Officer Saotome
by Sgt Ranma
Summary: A Ranma/Tenchi Muyo crossover pairing up Ranma and Kiyone, Ranma has had a tough life 9 years after Jusendo as a police officer in Los Angeles. An opportunity to make up for his misfortunes comes whe he goes back to Japan. CHP 10:EPILOGUE NEW.
1. 01 Meet Officer Ranma

This is part one of two rewrites I am currently undergoing for my Officer Saotome series. I first wrote Chapter 1: Meet Officer Ranma in script form instead of prose because it was my first fic and I wanted to use a format that I thought I could do better with. After the third chapter, I realized that script is truly no match for prose style writing. I realized that I could convey the mood, setting, emotions, and other various nitpicking descriptions much better in novella writing than clinical script.

Also, another big reason I wanted to rewrite the first two chapters was because I wanted to portray Ranma's character better (as well as fix some stupid mistakes I made, and there are a LOT of them ^^;;), and add in some stuff because now that I look back, the original first chapter is pretty damn corny. For those of you who have already read this fic before and you're reading this right now, you will notice a lot of newly added scenes. Not only that, I want to add things NOW that will come into play later so that they will make better sense (although I shall write it so that they're not really required knowledge, just as supplements) in my yet unwritten/unpublished chapters.

Now, enough ranting. On with the show!

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This fic is a crossover continuation fic for both the Ranma and Tenchi Universe. Tenchi and the gang won't be introduced for a long while, but that will all be explained as you read. Hopefully you readers know some basic knowledge about both Ranma and Tenchi:) I would rate this as an "R" fanfic, because of some of the harsh language used.

Here are a few things you must know while reading this:

-The Ranma aspect of the story takes place after Manga 38 and the Tenchi aspect takes place after the TV show/OVA.

-At the end of manga 38 Ranma was at the end of his sophomore year in Furinken High School and the year is set in 1992.

-For now in this universe Ranma's curse is accepted just about everywhere with a quick explanation from Ranma. Don't ask why, it just makes the story easier to understand.

-Some of the street names of LA that I describe are fictional, and some are real. The entire city is too big and complex for me to possibly recognize or remember every major street even though I may live nearby. This also applies to the locations of some places.

-Police jargon, cop talk, miscellaneous references, and other oddball things that you may find in the story and don't understand will be explained at the END, in my Author Notes section.

-And finally, (for now) Ranma as you read him in this intro will seem very out of character. But this will all be explained with some flashbacks and explanations! This is a long, somewhat complex story! You need to finish it through, hehe.

-SgtRanma

Please visit my website at .com! New fics will always appear there first!

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Chapter 1: Meet Officer Ranma

March 23rd, 2001. 10:50 AM.

Apt No. 426, Southcoast Plaza Apartments - Los Angeles, California.

"Urgh..."

A little oversleeping wouldn't hurt too much. After all, sometimes even the most well conditioned people had their limits. Oh, what the hell. It wouldn't kill to have a bit more time to laze around, would it?

In a room where an open wind was blowing in the draft and the fan was still running, a sleeping young man shifted around in his futon, his hair matted up messily and his bed sheets thrown all over his sleeping area. There were several magazines scattered around, ranging from gun magazines, local newspapers, martial arts digests, and various others. Otherwise, the room was very tidy and organized, with very spartan but cozy accommodations.

The apartment wasn't too bad for a shack that was near the Pacific Coast, way over where you could smell the sea breeze at night and the smell of hot dogs, pizza, and sun tanning lotion during the day. It was a decent size; about 900 square feet of usable space, more than enough for a single bachelor. The rent was a bitch though, at $1590 a month for a lease, it would seem lousy to anyone who doesn't know some of the hardships that surround So Cal, with the overflowing population of Asian and Latin immigrants squeezing into the sunny state, and the growing plague of gangbangers, skin heads, Crips, Bloods, Asian Prides, and all the other ballers that fought for a piece of the territorial pie. But it didn't matter anyhow; $1490 was an average deal for a nice place to live in LA, especially in the better areas.

A ray of sun peeked through the window, which was unusual because it was nearing the middle of the day, but then the window was facing in a direction that delayed the sun's trajectory. A warm, springtime fuzz came over the young man in the futon, his entire face was shined with bright sunlight.

Moaning a bit, he finally woke up, rubbing his eyes, cracking his spine and his fingers, and running his left hand through his hair in muscle memory. He stood up and cringed, shaking and rubbing his head in wincing pain. He walked over to his bathroom, which was only a few feet away, accidentally knocking over a fairly large square bottle with a round and tapered neck. Fortunately it was empty; whoever drank out of it sucked it dry. But over in the bathroom, he was quite certain something was trying to probe its way out of his skull. He shrugged to take his mind off the familiar pain; he was used to it by now.

The bottle had a black label on it. It read in big bold letters, Jack Daniels. Ah... that good ol' American remedy for ALL your problems, the potent kick in the ass, knockout power of Jack took care of all that. And in return for his services, Jack Daniels paid you back with a hangover that hit like a ton of bricks. The empty Bud Lights that littered the floor added a nice cacophony of pinging cans as his feet brushed past them on the cream carpeted floor.

"Hmmm...that was a pretty good night's sleep, until I woke up," Ranma Saotome mumbled. He caught a whiff of his own stench as he shook his head, he'd really gotten trashed last night.

Trying to ignore the pain in his head and his stomach churning with the unpleasant sensation of nausea and the sharp pain of stabbing indigestion, Ranma walked out the bathroom and went to a closet, taking out a couple of huge solid iron weights, attached to a heavy duty steel belt. He wrapped it around his torso, making sure the weights were firmly planted securely behind his back. He casually stretched himself the best he could, the weight on his back wasn't bothering him much. To anyone else, it would've been sheer torture, for if you read closely to the label you would've noticed that each weight was a whopping 200lbs, both totaling up to 400. Staying in shape was a priority for this man, he wasn't living in some Hollywood fairytale or comic book where the main man stays in shape for long periods of time without doing jack shit. A hangover wasn't a valid excuse to skip out, either.

This was all only basic physical training to Ranma, he did it to maintain usable strength and to keep his muscle tone strong and defined. He dropped to the floor, gracefully supporting his body with his arms, his back straightened and parallel to the floor. He centered his left arm first to support himself and he put his right arm on his back, and he slowly executed a good one armed pushup, carrying the heavy weights with him on his back. Ranma eventually sped up, doing repetitions of 75 per arm, alternating back and forth at least 5 times with each arm. When his arms finally felt strained, he put down both his arms and placed them far apart to work out his chest, starting regular pushups, he pumped out 150 solid and rapid repetitions, causing his chest to burn in a satisfying sensation.

He moved back into the bathroom, stopping at the door and grabbing a steel bar that was installed for pull-ups. He worked out his biceps in the same pattern as his pushups, alternating and using both arms.

Satisfied that his impromptu morning workout was complete, Ranma finally got into the bathroom, wondering which he should do first. For now he didn't have to worry about working out the rest of the important muscles on his body, he'd have time to work them out later in the gym of his workplace. His attendance to a gym varied at times, usually reflecting his around the clock on-call schedule. But he tried his best to make it four times a week.

Debating for a moment whether he should get some aspirin for his hangover or brush his teeth and shower first, he was too lazy and tired at the moment to go with the former. He'd go with another solution instead for his headache, one that he could accomplish on the fly. Grabbing a beer from the fridge, he popped the can and chugged away as he clumsily stripped his clothes, he turned on the shower and jumped in, draping the shower curtains in. He didn't bother to wait for the water to warm up; the icy cold sensation would clear his head up and bring him to full consciousness. As soon as those water droplets had hit his body, his entire form and shape shifted and morphed, transforming a muscular 5' 10" pigtailed man into a 6' pigtailed beauty. His frame turned thinner and the muscles shrank but still stayed defined and fit, the ruffled hair turned softer, and he gained those unmistakable feminine curves that blessed his cursed female body. The same dark handsome tan he had from years of living in a sunny state also transferred over, giving off a sexy golden tan on that bodacious body.

Living with a curse for nearly a decade, Ranma was more than used to it by now. He, no rather SHE, came to grips after a couple of years that her curse of having a female body wasn't that much of an objection anymore, but in fact it was a convenient tool to implement at times. God knew how many lives it saved and how many plans it helped carry out during her years in her line of work, it all offset most of the disadvantages being female brought on.

The water eventually turned warm, instantly morphing Ranma back into his original state as the gradient temperature of the water reached an extremely specific point. As he got out of the tub he finished off the beer that he left on the sink, letting out a gratifying belch. Unusual as it was, a beer or a shot worked well in combating alcohol sickness. Grinning as he threw away the can, feeling better, he thoroughly cleansed and dried himself off, moving next to brushing his teeth and combing his hair.

He went to his clothing drawers and pulled out some socks, a light blue short sleeve dress shirt, a leather belt and a pair of tan khakis. Putting those on, he pulled out a dark navy blue flannel and a small leather pouch from a high shelf. It was a Smith and Wesson model 649 small frame .38 Special revolver, complete with a soft carrying holster to safely and snugly put in his back pocket. It wasn't as powerful as he'd liked due to department regulation, but it was good to have a back up weapon in case the unthinkable happened.

Ranma went to his futon and lifted his pillow, under it was a matte black Beretta 92FS 9mm pistol locked in place by an odd looking black strongside holster. It was a peculiar looking holster that had a rotating hood in place of a tradition button strap and a lever that was located near the trigger guard. The engraving on the side of it read Safariland Raptor.

The Beretta was a fine piece for any military or law enforcement operative, sporting an accurate 5" barrel, a flawlessly reliable cycling action, standard LAPD issue customized glow in the dark Tritium night sights, and a round capacity of 15 in the mag and one up the pipe. It was combat loaded as such with a full clip and chambered round, utilizing hi preferred ammo of choice, Winchester Ranger 147 grain hollowpoint rounds, dubbed "Black Rhinos" by cops who used them for its serious and effective stopping power. The pistol wasn't by any means fancy and made do with simplicity and ergonomics in mind. The only reason Ranma hadn't replaced it was because it had been free, and he disliked using his own money for anything unless absolutely necessary. It had a matte black finish that had been considerably smoothed down from years of holster draws and trips to the shooting range, Beretta used the term Bruniton to describe their self proclaimed unique finish. The ambidextrous slide mounted lever switch worked as the gun's safety and as a decocker, to safely let down a cocked hammer without risking an accidental discharge. The ambi-levers also doubled as a grip for easily pulling back the slide a quarter of the way to visually and physically check for a loaded round in the chamber.

Also underneath the pillow was a tan leather magazine pouch that was made from horsehide with a rough exterior and an adjustable belt loop, designed to be carried inside of the pants and out of open view. There was also a shiny golden piece of metal, incorporated in a small leather carrying rig and a belt clip.

Upon closer inspection, it was a police badge. Ranma picked it up and looked at it with a submissive look on his face. It was a shield badge, shaped almost like a very big egg that had been flattened, but with intricate inscribing and artwork, mixing blends of gold and silver. The top of it read Detective, underneath was a picture of a building with a square base and a tall center tower. Underneath that was the proud symbol Ranma acknowledged every day as he went to work, Los Angeles Police it read. The proud and mighty LAPD, the finest police force in the world. For nearly 4 years Ranma had worn this badge with excitement, pride, as well as the sorrow that came along with it. Nowadays, he didn't care as much about fulfilling a passion for or fueling his need for adventure. For now it was just a symbol of power and respect to flounder out at criminals who disobeyed the law.

Ranma latched on his sidearm, magazine holster, and his badge on his belt, making sure they were fit properly. He headed out for the entrance and grabbed his keys off the dining table. Usually he made himself a large breakfast to eat at home but since he overslept he decided to buy some junk food on the way to work. He usually kept a strict and healthy diet but allowed himself with an occasional splurge to satisfy his taste buds. Strapping on some casual sneakers, he stepped out and locked the door shut.

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The Ford Crown Victoria is considered by the average young man as a boring, geriatric, old man's car. It would seem very unusual to see a guy in his twenties driving around in an old fashioned (yet new) full size sedan in the middle of Southern California, arguably the heart of the import car scene for youngsters. Ranma on the other hand, didn't care. Besides, it wasn't just any old Crown Vic, it was an unmarked detective's issue cruiser, complete with undercover internal lights and sirens stuck behind the wide rectangular grill and a police radio and computer attached to the dash. Several more red and blue lights were installed in the interior, with a strobe setup attached to the rearview mirror and a flashing incandescent lamped system on the back of the rear windshield. And best of all it was free private transportation, complete with free gas. A free car was better than a cool one. Little savings like this allowed him to save up most of his generous $6000 a month paycheck, despite his ridiculously high rent. Overtime definitely had its perks.

His destination was Parker Center, located in between the 77th Street and Central divisions. It was a bit of a commute to get there, a long 30-minute drive if traffic wasn't too clogged up. Then again, his position in the department voided him from getting punished for tardiness. His schedule, his rules. Ranma snorted as he rolled down the window to spit out the mint that had been rolling around in his mouth to cover up the smell of the Pho he had just eaten to treat his hangover.

He took advantage of that fact for once, today. He had to head up north to pick up a new suit he had tailored for a huge discount in the Valley, his old suit was a little tacky and came loose at the ravels easily because it was so cheap, something that wouldn't reflect too well of himself for his frequent trips to the courthouse or to a subpoena from the top brass. It was a Korean tailor who Ranma had helped a few months ago, his daughter had been mugged and beaten savagely in broad daylight by a lowly thug with a thick criminal record. Ranma had been across the street at a hot dog stand and chased after him and made sure the hoodlum was never able to walk again, thanks to a snap to the spine inflicting paralysis. Ranma didn't feel any regret in punishing the cur; the tailor's daughter had been beaten so badly that she had required reconstructive surgery on the lower parts of her face as well as treatment and rehabilitation for a broken arm. The furious and heartbroken tailor and father thanked Ranma from the bottom of his heart, and offered his services for free, stating it was the least he could do. Ranma didn't have the heart to accept anything for free, and came to a compromise by paying only the invoice cost of the suit. So now he had a $3,000 Valentino suit hanging in the back of his car, paid with only $600 from his own pocket.

It would be at least another 20 minutes before he'd get to his destination at the moment; he was going through the Van Nuys Divisional district. Radio traffic was calm and normal just like every other morning, just the usual mishaps (drugs, fighting, minor chases, all that plain boring stuff), nothing serious.

Today's fate had different plans.

"All units, all units, officers need assistance, shooting in progress at Hornady and Bradburn, inside a school playground. One officer down, barricaded suspect with sniper rifle, Code 3," the radio chirped.

"This is 9-Adam-23, we're already there, over. Requesting Metro SWAT unit support immediately!" someone else said on the radio.

A scowl formed on Ranma's face, it wasn't everyday you had some nut shooting at kids and cops. He picked up the radio handset, "This is unit 5-King-90-16, enroute to the sniper call, over."

"Acknowledged, SIS detective arriving on scene, out."

Ranma reached over to the center console and flipped a couple of switches, triggering his code 3 emergency lights and the siren. He mashed the pedal to the floor and raced towards his new destination. It would only be a short detour from his schedule.

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The blue Ford rounded a corner at high speed, squealing its tires to a stop in front of an elementary school. There were several black and white squad cars parked on the street blocking away people and traffic, several officers were surrounding a corridor that was the entrance to some stairs for the blacktop. All the responding officers had wasted no time or effort, there was already yellow police tape neatly surrounding the perimeter. Two officers were down on their stomachs with their pistols drawn, protecting the area the best they could without revealing themselves. The entire school perimeter was surrounded by tall fencing, which actually helped isolate people from the shooting. Thunderclaps of gunfire echoed several times in the air.

Ranma got out of his car and casually walked over to the corridor passing the fence. Several yards away there were a couple of frantic parents, crying their eyes out to the police officers. Ranma passed by one detective in a brown suit, talking to his radio.

"Well, look who's here," the detective spoke with heavy disdain.

Ranma blew past him, ignoring his comment. It was Detective Sergeant Roy Wilcox, an old homicide cat down over in the Van Nuys Division. He had met him last year in a joint homicide case that required them to work together. Although they weren't enemies, Wilcox wasn't too fond of Ranma because of his wild behavior. Not to mention he was jealous by the fact that some young 26 year old punk was a much better cop than he'd ever be.

A young African-American patrol officer in a black police jacket had his gun drawn, surveying the area from a safe distance. His face was sweaty and his hands were jittery, showing how nervous he was. It wasn't like he was new to the danger of his chosen occupation, but how often does ANY cop get to deal with a well barricaded sniper that targets children and police?

Ranma walked up to him to ask a question.

"Whaddaya got here?" Ranma asked, walking to get to him.

"Sniper, sir," he replied.

"A sniper? What's he doing?" Ranma asked casually.

Detective Wilcox came up from behind him to get a look at the playground blacktop, seeing the asphalt riddled with bullets. "He's shooting kids, one officer down," Wilcox growled. "This is the regular daily meat grinder, Saotome. This ain't hide and seek death patrol shit!"

The young patrol cop continued. "The guy's a nightmare sir, he's still inside. We can't get to him!" he said despairingly.

Ranma faced Wilcox. "You got a SWAT team coming in?"

The old detective shook his head. "No ETA, they're stuck over at Devonshire handling another barricade suspect. They're rushing a unit over here as we speak. Sheriff SEBs are also rushing a unit our way too."

Wilcox faced Ranma with a frown on his face. "What the fuck are you doing here anyway, Saotome?"

Ranma walked closer to the steps to see if he could spot the sniper, surely enough he did. There was a shoddy apartment complex across from the playground. One of the windows had a metal sheet plastered for armor. A wild eyed man with a red cap popped up shooting his rifle erratically.

"I was in the area, decided to drop by," Ranma replied, stepping back.

"We don't need SIS here, we'll wait till SWAT comes by," Wilcox sneered.

"Well, good luck with that then," Ranma merely said, not bothered by the obviously blatant insult.

A uniformed sergeant ran down the stairs, carrying an injured child in his arms. He was shouting for help and some paramedics, the kid had a bullet wound in the ankle, blood dripped out in a messy flood because it was too big to cauterize. The sergeant passed off the kid to some parent who had run towards him in a mad rage, desperate to see her son, who was now pale from blood loss.

He walked over to Ranma, a look of sorrow and pain on his face. "That kid's only nine years old man, Jesus."

Ranma also looked at the kid, who was bawling his eyes out from the pain. "Nine?" he asked. He looked back up the stairs, his face seemed to show that he was pondering something. He slowly walked towards it. "Hey, how good a shot is this guy?"

The sergeant answered with a blank face. "What?"

"I mean how accurate is he? Does he shoot at random targets, at cops? Specific kids?"

The sergeant shook his head. "I don't know, random I guess. A bit sloppy."

"Not much of a sniper is he? Did you get the make of the weapon?"

"Uh, yeah. It's an automatic, and loud."

Ranma's eyes opened in interest. "Does he have any hostages up there or what?"

The officer shrugged, "Pfft...not that we know of."

"Yeah?" Ranma took off his flannel and tossed it away, he pulled out his Beretta, pulling the slide slightly to check the open top chamber if it was loaded. One round was firmly stuck in the extractor as he saw a flash of golden brass, with 15 more in the magazine.

Detective Wilcox scowled, he knew what stunt Ranma was trying to pull. "Saotome, where the heck you going? Get the hell back here, get your ass back down here!"

Ranma ignored him and continued marching up the stairs, his pistol down in a low ready stance.

"Saotome!" Wilcox yelled again. As much as he disliked the pigtailed detective, he didn't want a dead cop in a body bag.

As he reached the top of the stairs a female patrol officer, who was guarding the staircase in a lying position, tried to grab his pant leg to stop him.

"Get down, you're in the line of fire! Get down!" she pleaded.

Ranma continued walking towards some monkey bars; he could see to his left that there were several children hiding under the benches in fear. About 40 yards in front of him was another police officer, injured with a round to the shoulder and slowly bleeding on the asphalt.

Detective Wilcox was still yelling at the top of his lungs in frustration. "Are you fucking crazy!? Get back here Saotome! Get outta here, he's gonna shoot ya!"

He halted right underneath the monkey bars, facing straight ahead up at the barricaded window. Ranma decided to see if he could talk to him.

"Hello? Mr. Sniper, sir!" he yelled out across the blacktop.

"Get away!" the man yelled. He popped his head out and clumsily aimed his rifle hastily.

It was an old, abused Ruger Mini-14 Ranch Rifle, chambered in 5.56mm NATO rounds. The deranged man shot five rounds towards the general direction of where Ranma was, who was about 60 yards away. The rounds bounced off the floor and sparked off on the monkey bars, all of them close to Ranma, but none of them hitting him. Ranma's face remained a neutral mask, he didn't even flinch as the bullets whizzed past him.

The pigtailed boy took a couple steps forward, raising his pistol aimed towards the barricaded window, now 55 yards away. He held a firm and steady grip with both of his hands, his eyes narrowed slightly and his thumb cocked the hammer to engage the pistol into single action mode.

"I'm still here, asshole!" Ranma yelled out so that the man could hear him. His eyes stayed open, there was a fire burning in them. "Or do you only do kids?"

The man in the barricaded window turned red hot, his face a mask of rage. "Shut up!" he screamed. Popping his head back up again, he started shooting rampantly again.

This time however, Ranma squeezed the trigger of his pistol mercilessly, emptying 16 rounds of hellfire the best he could in a grouping towards the window. Ranma's steady aiming hit the man several times, who screamed in pain as he dropped to the floor with several rounds hitting fatal spots in his upper torso. More than half the bullets Ranma's pistol fired hit the metal armor on the window and the inside of the apartment. After all, the Beretta 92 is only a pistol, and shooting a person at 55 yards was an amazing hit.

Ranma didn't take his eyes off his (now downed) target, he mechanically thumbed the magazine release expending the used clip and reached down with his left hand to get a fresh 15 round clip, clicking it in place with the slide. He casually raised his left hand above his shoulder and tucked his thumb in to show four fingers, signaling 10-4 to any officer who could see.

Several officers yelled out, running towards the apartment. "It's clear, it's clear! Move out!" they exclaimed.

Wilcox ran towards Ranma, who was decocking his pistol and placing it back in his holster. He reached down on the ground to get his used clip.

"You're one psycho son of a bitch," Wilcox said, his old-fashioned 4" Smith and Wesson .44 Special revolver in his hand in a combat ready stance. "But you're damn good," he nodded.

Ranma started walking back to his car, unfazed by the fact that he had just shot some stranger to death. He nodded in acknowledgement to Wilcox, picking up his flannel at the bottom of the stairs. He looked down at his wristwatch, he had to hurry up and get to Parker Center. Despite all the procedures he was supposed to follow surrounding an officer involved homicide, he didn't want to stick around for the mass media hysteria that would soon follow in the wake of the current tragedy. His boss would pull some strings to take care of the heavy bureaucracy.

"I'll be sending your boss a request for a report," Wilcox's voice was faintly heard as he walked down the stairs.

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The familiar smell of city smog was replaced by the smell of carne asada and refrijidos frijoles from a Mexican fast food vendor's truck as the Crown Vic entered a large parking structure.

"KFWB, news 980! You give us 22 minutes, and we'll give you the world!"

Tap, tap, tap. Ranma's finger drummed a beat along the steering wheel. Looking around, he cursed to himself, it was one in the afternoon and everyone had already come back from their lunch break. He would have to waste his time looking everywhere for a spot.

"...and with a westbound SigAlert the 91 freeway westbound is crowded with heavy traffic stretching across from Artesia. That's traffic on the 'ones', next update in 10 minutes! Now, for the local news." The radio played a short sound byte and the voice changed to another radio anchor. "In a violent flurry just half an hour ago, an elementary school in Van Nuys was held under siege by a deranged gunman firing several gunshots at police officers and school kids."

"For Christ's sake, those bastards got the story up already," Ranma muttered. "Wilcox better not have given my name."

"...names of the victims have not been released, however it is confirmed that at least one LAPD officer and several children were seriously injured. The only information that the police have told us so far was that a detective who responded to the scene had single handedly neutralized the sniper to quickly end the bloodshed. The detective's name nor his reason for being there has not been released and we've been told will not be released in the future and will be kept confidential. This is Edward-"

Ranma found his parking spot and shut off the motor, turning the radio off automatically. He stepped out and headed towards an elevator.

Parker center was a huge, rectangular building down in the Central Divisional Area in downtown LA, taking up nearly an entire city block, but towering only about 8 stories high. It was the operational HQ for all Metro officers, commissioners, the Chief, and was also the branch for the Investigative Service's Detectives Bureau. Many detectives from all 18 Divisional Precincts of the four bureaus in the city competed all the time to get an opening spot at Headquarters, home of some of the finest detectives in the world in the finest police force in the world.

Ranma walked through the entrance, several uniformed officers were guarding the surrounding area to keep out any trespassers. Ranma had a blue and white ID card clipped to his flannel, it was mandatory to have police ID cards at all times when inside Parker Center. Ranma very much disliked the building, every time he came for work there was always another crack on the wall or another electrical line that had to be fixed. The squeaky old building hadn't been changed since it's creation in 1955, and most of the damage came from the last few years as a result of the Northridge quake. The decor was dreary at best, with most offices and rooms tacked in fake laminated wood and dinged up grey filing cabinets. Parker Center was overcrowded and would soon become unacceptably insufficient for the department's needs, but the officers who worked there made do with what they were given. The commute down in traffic choked gridlock wasn't much help either. He headed straight for the elevator, his destination the 5th floor.

Several officers who were hanging around the lobby greeted him, some of the senior detectives especially. Others tried to ignore him, they were very intimidated by his infamous high profile. Some even frowned at him, giving him a dirty look. They certainly didn't approve of the bureau he worked for. He had to walk through the entire Metropolitan Division inside of Parker Center to get where he was going to.

Once he got into the fifth floor, Ranma walked westward towards a sterile clean corridor. There was a steel door along with a keypad door lock. There were big bold letters on the door Special Investigative Section - RESTRICTED ACCESS.

He dialed in a seven digit code on the pad; the door knob emitted a solid *thunk* sound, signaling the electronic dead lock was disabled for a couple of seconds.

Despite the unusual security, inside it looked like any other bureau in the building. There were several offices, some with walled off cubicles for necessary confidentiality, each with desks and there were rows of file cabinets. There were several wheeled tack boards in various parts of the room, all of which were attached with surveillance photos, beat paths, and multiple outlines of different cases for the different working teams. In the corner was a steel fenced door, with a large red sign that said SIS Armory Locker.

Ranma entered a door that said SIS Commander painted in white. There was a large office, and a huge wooden desk in front of a sharp looking old man with a nifty suit. He sort of looked like Robert DeNiro, except with darker hair.

"Well, well, you're a little late, come on in, Sarge."

Ranma apologized, "Sorry, Captain Davis. I hit a little bump on the way over."

The old man, a Caucasian in his late fifties, gestured Ranma over to a seat in front of him, next to another man, who was in his early forties.

"Hey, McClane," Ranma greeted his good friend with a smile. John McClane was a cop who had come over a couple of years ago from New York, receiving a specially privileged lateral transfer over to the LAPD for some special work he had done for the city in the past. He was Ranma's loyal partner and one of his best friends for the past year.

The Lieutenant Detective smirked. "A little bump there, Ranma? I heard you took out some guy taking pot shots at a school playground. We listened to it on the broadcast."

"It was nothing. I was just stopping by in the area," Ranma shrugged. "KFWB seems to have already gotten the scoop." He pointed back with his thumb at a radio that was sitting in the back.

Davis butted in, "Yeah, yeah, whatever. You're here now so it doesn't matter. As long as you're one step ahead of the media, I'll have less to worry about." He swiveled his chair to reach a mini-fridge that was next to his desk and pulled out two bottles. "What'll it be, Saotome? Miller or Coors?"

Ranma nodded his head to the Coors. "I'll take the silver bullet."

The senior officer gently tossed the beer to Ranma who caught it between his thumb and index finger and already had the cap twisted off by the time his hand gripped it.

"Would you like one too, McClane?" He smiled at John. "Oh, I forgot. You're a pussy who decided to cut back on the liquor."

John smiled and shook his head and casually gave a sarcastic middle finger to his supervisor. John was once an expert in the art of constant intoxication, but then again he learned also that it was quite an obstacle to maintaining a good relation with his family.

"What's today's agenda, Captain?" Ranma asked, taking back a drink of the brew. In the confines of the personal sections of the hardworking detectives, Ranma nor any other detective had to worry about getting caught for drinking on the job. Anyone who would dare snitch would pay dearly later.

Davis' visage softened for a moment and he took a short sip of his beer, rolling it around in his mouth for taste. "Well, the one child who had the critical GSW in the ankle didn't make it. Just got announced on the radio." Ranma's eyes averted Davis', his lips tightening and his brow furrowing. "But at least the kid got some vengeance." Davis coughed and straightened out his tie. "Anyway, let's get back to business. Sorry about that case with those two black guys over on the east end. Who would have thought that the last liquor store they tried to rob was already being robbed when they came in? They popped each other nice and clean," he whistled. "I have something a little different, for a change. We got a tip from a snitch down on Skid Row. He told us some info in return for some money. Says his friend, a suspected serial rapist and repeated 211 offender, is going on the prowl tonight." Davis said, looking over some sheets on a clipboard.

"Is the tip legitimate or bullshit?" McClane asked.

Captain Gray Davis nodded. "Yeah, it's positive. I'm working up a case file right now. I'll give it to you guys later tonight when you go."

"No surveillance, no tracking? We just go?" Ranma said surprised. Working in this particular sector required an extensive amount of back to back surveillance and research on different cases at the same time in order to insure that they were targeting hardened and hardcore violation criminals.

"I told you it was something different. It won't be too bad," Davis scoffed. "The guy you're facing is Hispanic, most likely unarmed, and if he is it'll probably be some pistols. I think it's highly unlikely that he'll be strapped. Besides if we spot him and he does his thing, you know what to do."

"Whatever. I guess we'll carry a medium load for this job," McClane replied. He got up to walk out.

Ranma stood up too to join him. "Hey Captain, where is the stakeout point by the way?"

"I was about to get to that," Davis said. "It's down in the Wilshire Division, they have some converted undercover cars you can use, so take Vince and Al with you for back up. Hopefully our snitch gives us an accurate enough description as where exactly we can track him from. It's up to you two to see if he pulls off a job."

"All right," McClane gestured. "Come on Ranma, lets go."

"It's gonna be a long night," Ranma sighed.

***

March 23rd, 2001.

Wilshire Blvd - Downtown LA, California. 3:30 AM.

"Damn this is fucking boring. When is this guy coming in? Davis said he'd be here by 11:00. And we have to stay here all night till he does come."

Eighteen-year law enforcement veteran John McClane sighed and drank some hot coffee from a thermos. It was a damn cold night and their loaned undercover 1990 Mercedes S Class was equipped with seat heaters that didn't even work, nor could they turn on the motor to turn on the heating vents unless they wanted to give away their cover. And to top it off, he forgot to bring something warm to wear, all he had was his cheap five dollar Hanes T-Shirt and a plaid short sleeved button up shirt on top of it. He awkwardly held his coffee in his left hand while he tried to adjust the long holo-scoped Ak-74 rifle he had. It was one of the newer mass produced rifles from master gun maker and engineer Mikhail Kalashnikov, but this particular rifle was a much higher quality piece as it had been given a makeover by a gunsmith for better fit, finish, and accuracy. The butt of the stock was on the floor and the barrel was sticking all the way up to John's chest. Despite claiming to take a "medium" load, it appeared he prepared himself with a heavy hitter.

"Have a little patience, he'll be here John." Ranma flicked his pigtail a couple of times. Despite living in the US for over 7 years, he still had a light Asian accent. He cradled the short M-4 Carbine that he had on his lap; the gun had no magazine though and was unloaded.

McClane raised a side of his eyebrows to glance at Ranma. "Yeah, yeah. I don't have as much patience as you do, Ranma. I've been working SIS for four years and I've been around you long enough to savor the action," he chuckled. "One of these days I'm gonna just take a year long vacation and spend some time with my family, instead of being with you in this motherfucking tin can."

"Four years in a unit that does almost 90 percent surveillance work, and you don't have the patience for it?" Ranma sighed and tried stretching his back from the unsupportive seats. "I've seen enough action to last a fucking lifetime," Ranma sighed. He looked over to John. "Probably more than even you could handle."

"Yeah, right," McClane replied sarcastically. "With your curse, you can do more assignments in the department than anyone else. I'd guess it's a great gift somehow, even though I don't want it..." he trailed off.

The pigtailed boy shook his head. "I got used to it, but everyone keeps wanting me to do Vice jobs, and pose as a hooker or something. I'm cool with doing the vice bureaus a favor once in a while if it's a big hit, but not full time. And then there are those dipshits who try to hit on me when they know I'm male," Ranma said, frustrated. "In fact, you're a fag for saying that."

The senior detective huffed out in mock irritation. "Thanks, but you can fuck yourself."

Ranma gave him a cocky smirk. "Hmph."

BEEP. CHIRP. "Unit 3-William-56, please respond."

3-William-56 was the unit-classification Saotome and McClane accepted for their ratty old Mercedes, it was really a cover for their real unit designation in case some patrol unit came to question them. This assignment was a rush ordered and expedited fiasco, without any prior notification to the officers in the vicinity and a hastily constructed alias was needed to keep things from blowing up. Ranma grabbed the receiver piece and pressed the transmit button. "Sergeant Saotome and Lieutenant McClane here."

"Suspect has been spotted walking towards your location, be advised. He should be in your sights soon," the radio chirped.

"Thanks, Vince. Code 100."

"Roger."

From across the street, a lone Hispanic male popped out of the dark corner, casually walking his way across the sidewalk. Even with the dimly lit streets, one could tell his arms were covered in tattoos.

Ranma nudged McClane. "Is that him?" he pointed out.

"Yeah." John opened up the folder and read down some files. "That guy was just released from San Quentin Penitentiary two weeks ago. His name is Roberto Dominguez, charged with murdering 5 different people working as clerks in various late night businesses. Supposedly he raped all the girls he came across in his crime spree too." John fingered one particular section of the document he was reading. "However, most of his charges were dropped due to insufficient evidence of his actions. He's pretty decent at covering his tracks. Served only 2 years and got paroled for his manslaughter charge."

Ranma loaded a hundred round drum clip into the magazine well of his M4. He pulled back the T-bar charging handle, locking a round in the chamber. "Man, what is our justice system coming to? Vicious bastard, ain't he?"

McClane let out a huff. "No shit. And check this shit out, back in '93 77th Street homicide came upon this guy's leftovers at a small liquor store down in the hood. Him and a youngster he'd recruited robbed the place, and Dominguez was suspected as the shooter, but the crime got pinned on the kid who tagged along instead. He shot her in the head twice, and according to the report he had sex with the dead body, using a condom. No fluids found, the condom was long discarded by the time both were caught. Again, all pinned on the kid. Don't ask how."

"Atta' boy," Ranma said, nodding at the rap sheet. "I guess one of the station captains finally decided to kick the case up to us?" Learning this nut job was a necrophilia loving rapist made Ranma much more eager to take care of this guy.

"We managed to get one of his old 'buddies' to snitch for us so we could track his next hit. Despite what Davis said though, it says here he seems to be armed pretty well. A couple of automatic pistols if I read correctly. Seems like this shit eating bastard enjoys this."

During their small pep talk the two detectives failed to pay attention to what was happening in the convenient store across the street. A piercing shriek found it's way to the undercover car, getting the attention of both John and Ranma. There they saw their suspect, beating a hapless young female clerk to the ground.

"Gimme every thing you got in the fuckin' register now!" yelled Roberto.

The female clerk nodded in tears and in pain and opened up the register for Roberto to access. Since the register had been emptied out only a few hours ago, there wasn't much cash.

Roberto punched the girl again. "This is all the fucking money you have?! There's gotta be more!"

"That's all there is! I swear! Please don't kill me, please!!" she pleaded.

"For some reason, I just don't think you're telling me the truth, bitch," Roberto evilly snarled. He pulled the girl out of the counter area and pinned her down right in the middle of the store. Roberto unzipped his pants and attempted to rape her savagely.

"We got a visual confirmation on felony rape. Here we go!" Ranma started up the car, not even the least bit disturbed of what was happening in front of him.

These SIS assignments absolutely required that the detectives witness the crime actually taking place in order to take the suspects out. It was the only thing that kept Ranma from losing his cool and murdering the people he tracked down with his bare hands.

The old Mercedes squealed out to the street and out of the curb, heading straight for the corner store. Roberto who was busy doing his dirty work, looked up to see two bright headlights aimed straight forward him. He cruelly twisted the head of the crying girl beneath him, breaking her neck. He then struggled the best he could away from the counter while putting his pants back on.

With a loud crunch the Mercedes bounced up on the curb, shaking its occupants.

Ranma flung his door open, aiming his assault rifle. "LAPD!! On the ground now asshole!!" Of course, in reality he knew his order wouldn't be followed, it served to only provoke an attack. This was exactly what he wanted.

Roberto pulled out two chop-off assault rifles (more like pistols) that he somehow hid in the crotch of his pants. He didn't bother to aim and just pointed in the general direction of Ranma. "Suck my dick, honchos!" he yelled in a thick Mexican accent.

John was the first to duck down and crouch in his seat. "Shit!"

The serial rapist pulled the trigger of one assault pistol madly, the gun was set on automatic and emptied in just a few seconds. Ranma was taking cover as well, jumping back into his seat and ducking. Fortunately Roberto's careless aiming led to all the rounds piercing through the windshield or windows and exiting out the roof. The glass windows of the store itself were in shards littering the sidewalk.

The perp on the other end was running frantically out in the streets, having enough luck to pull over a large black Dodge Ram pickup truck on the lone empty road.

Ranma popped his head over the dash. He subconsciously patted himself, wondering if he'd been hit and was springing leaks. "Is it clear?" He looked over to his partner, who was muttering and cursing angrily as he was ducking. "Dammit, John! I thought you said he had pistols, not fuckin' chop off rifles!"

John brushed his head off for broken glass. "I didn't know..." he said sheepishly.

Ranma sat upright in his seat and floored the car in reverse, smoking his way back out to the street and onto pursuing their suspect. Fortunately for Ranma, Roberto's getaway vehicle was big and easy to spot and slow to follow.

In the passenger seat of the truck, Roberto nudges his weapon against the driver he was taking hostage. "Drive faster, you goddamn Gringo!"

This stakeout definitely had not turned out the way they had wanted to. Now there was the added factor of a pursuit. Ranma picked up the mike piece for the radio. "This is 3-William-56! Suspect is heading towards Wilshire in a black Dodge Ram, California license plate 4-Frank-Mary-John-674! He's armed with assault rifles, and may possibly have a hostage, pursue with extreme caution!"

The S-Class tailed the Dodge closely with ease, with the behemoth in front swaying wildly as its high center of gravity made it swerve from left to right. From behind, an old and large late model GMC Suburban with internal code 3 lights and sirens drifted out of a corner, giving a furious chase with Ranma and McClane.

John looked behind his seat. "There's Al and Vince, I don't see any black and whites helping us."

The thundering crack of gunshots erupted from ahead; Roberto was leaning out the passenger window shooting semi-auto fire at Ranma's car. The constant swerving impaired his aim, causing every shot to hit the hood or the ground. "I ain't goin' back you fuckin' pigs!" He pushed himself back into the truck, poking the driver once more with the muzzle of his gun. "Keep going you fucking cracker or else I'll kill you!"

In the midst of all the mayhem, the police broadcast crackled in Ranma's car. "This is dispatch, we have a reported 211 in progress at Wilshire and Normandie. All available units in the vicinity please respond."

McClane picked up the hand piece for the radio, and clicked a particular button on the receiver. "Dispatch, cancel that 211 this is a wild fire. Repeat, this is a wild fire, over."

"Are you sure about that!?" Ranma yelled over the combined noise of the wind buffeting through the busted windshield and the rickety roaring motor.

"Don't worry!" John had his thumb off the transmit button on the mike. "We can take care of this!"

The female dispatch voice responded. "Private request acknowledged." There was a series of beeps emitted by the radio. "All units concerning 211 call at Wilshire and Normandie, stand down."

Ranma meanwhile stayed right behind the truck, he aimed his M4 at the rear window of the truck to take out Roberto. The automatic rifle fire didn't even go near the target, both cars were going left and right too wildly for an accurate shot. He managed to riddle the back of the pickup bed and pierce holes into the gas tank. Ranma's spent cases were flying out the passenger side window, right across John's face.

"Damn! The truck is swerving too much!" Ranma exclaimed. He threw his rifle into the back seat because he had used up the entire 100 round clip in a few short seconds. Ranma jerked his torso to the left in the nick of time as a 5.56mm bullet cracked through the windshield and barely missed his head. The headrest of the driver's seat exploded, the leather covering it flapping and the yellow foam inside exposed, mangled. He turned back for a split second, his eyes wide and mouth agape.

"You almost got a free haircut there!" John lifted his left leg and kicked the cracked windshield as hard as he could, sending it flying out into the road. Their forward visibility was greatly improved, although now they had to deal with the high speed of the wind in their eyes.

He aimed his rifle on the truck's tires and took a few pot shots, blowing them out. McClane was a much better shooter than Ranma was, but unfortunately popping the tires did no good.

Ranma awkwardly reached his Beretta 92FS on his right hip with his left hand, his right hand still on the steering wheel. An idea popped to his head. "We gotta take this guy out fast," he mumbled. He looked over to John. "Hey, hold the fuck on all right? You ain't gonna like what I'm about to do!"

Ranma broke a fuse panel open with his right knee, and then yanked them all out with his right hand.

John was hastily clicking his seat belt on. "Why'd you do that?"

"To turn off the ABS!" He slammed his foot on the accelerator and surged the car forward to get in front of the slow pickup truck. "HANG ON!!"

With his service Beretta firmly rooted in his left hand and a glance at the instrument panel which was now blinking with various red warning lights, Ranma violently turned the steering wheel around to the left while simultaneously slamming on the brakes and the throttle.

Everything he planned worked out like clockwork, thanks to the rear-wheel-drive set up of the drive train and the disabled ABS. The front wheels locked first as predicted causing the rear wheels to lose traction and break loose on the asphalt. The car swerved 360 degrees at 60 mph, Ranma stuck out his left arm and shot through the windshield of the Dodge rapidly while he had a clear line of fire.

Roberto, in flabbergasted surprise, accidentally pulled the trigger against the head of the hostage he was controlling next to him when he saw the Mercedes dancing wildly in front of him. A moment after a bullet found its way to his forehead, although the impact of the windshield and his thick skull didn't provide enough force for the bullet to blow open the back of his head.

John was whooping excitedly next to Ranma, shooting his rifle rapidly at whatever he could. "Hoo, yeah!"

The Benz completed its revolution, slamming into the left side of the big pickup truck with a crunch. The brunt of Ranma's car shifted the direction of both cars, heading them straight towards a curb.

"Oh, shit!" John dropped his rifle on his lap and braced his arms on the roof of the Mercedes. Ranma had both of his hands locked tightly against the steering wheels, slamming on the brakes.

Both vehicles careened out of control, the Mercedes hit the curb first, the car was instantly lowered as the front suspension was taken out by the curb and the tires were blown out on impact, Ranma tried to steer out of the way but ended up flipping the car instead, and skidding to a stop on the street.

The Dodge Ram on the other hand was manned by a dead driver with a stiff foot pressed against the accelerator pedal. The truck flipped on the curb instantly, it did so at a higher speed than the Benz, causing it to pummel a concrete wall across the street.

Ranma and John were stuck in their now demolished Mercedes Benz S-Class which looked like a crushed tin can.

McClane shook his head, he was still planted in his seat upside down thanks to the seatbelt, and without a scratch on him. "Ugh...what the fuck happened?" Everything about this seemed so familiar to him... It must've happened to him before, McClane thought.

Ranma was unfortunately scrunched against the roof of the car, his seatbelt was sliced off by a warped metal door frame which had almost sliced off the top of his head. Otherwise, he was unhurt. "Errgh...got a Triple-A card?"

-----------

The two police officers in the old GMC Suburban watched blankly as the Mercedes a couple hundred yards in front of them flipped over and slid across the street.

"Whoa," one of them simply said.

The other officer nodded, and looked to his companion. "Hey, fifty bucks says one of them broke a bone," the other said.

The first officer turned to face him and gave him a blank expression, then smirked. "You're on."

-----------

Ranma struggled slightly to get his foot against the door, he kicked it off hard and crawled out. John was still able to open his door using the door handle, and climbed out with no problem. The pigtailed boy smashed his arm through the rear driver's side window, ripping off the door. He reached in to get his M4 and a fresh 100 round drum which was inside a tattered duffel bag, covered in broken shards of glass and mutilated leather seat material.

"Come on John, we gotta check it out!"

The two detectives ran towards the mangled pickup truck, aiming their rifles towards the passenger side of the cab. Ranma sweeped the mangled truck in a clover pattern to make sure there wouldn't be any surprise threats. Unfortunately the two didn't know that the passengers in the truck were already dead, if not from Ranma's pistol then the strong impact of the concrete.

John McClane cautiously strafed to Ranma's side, where he squared his weapon and raised it at the inanimate occupant of the passenger side. He was the first to initiate some lead-flesh contact. "FIRE!"

The muzzle rising and rapid recoil of Ranma's automatic Colt M4 was held steady by his strong grip, the rounds didn't seem to stop as he emptied all hundred rounds of 5.56mm ammo against whatever life was still left in there. John's rifle didn't have the same magazine capacity, but he still shot it semi-auto as fast he could. By the time they stopped there was a pile of spent brass at their feet, a large stream of blood was running down the sidewalk and curb of the street. The concrete wall was riddled with bullet holes and what remained of the truck was now scrap metal.

Both lowered their weapons and sighed.

"Whew...couldn't have gone worse, yeah?" Ranma said to his partner.

"Riiight...," John replied apprehensively. His mind was thoroughly mixed with relief and frustration at a hastily formed assignment that had been a step shy of becoming a disaster. "Let's have someone else take care of this shit."

As if on cue, the other members of the operation arrived, their big undercover Suburban screeching to a halt. A middle aged man in his thirties and another man in his late twenties or early thirties hopped out of the cars, their own rifles slung to the side.

"Jesus, you guys had some fun, didn't ya?" the older one asked. He turned to the other guy he was with. "You owe me fifty bucks bitch, they didn't break anything."

John waved him off. "Shut up, Vince. You guys were too late." McClane jabbed the butt of his rifle painfully into Vince's gut, knocking the air out of him. "That's for letting Al drive."

"Hmph," Al replied with a smirk, reaching into his pocket to pay off Vince. He received a kick to his crotch from McClane when he didn't pay attention.

"That's for being stupid enough to accept a bet like that, especially having the odds against us," McClane concluded.

Another car appeared on the street, a black and white patrol car with a single sergeant in the driver's seat. It had its lights and sirens blaring, screeching to a stop next to the crime scene.

The young patrol sergeant gawked at the gory scene in front of him, not to mention the mass spread of bullet holes everywhere. "What the hell happened here?!"

Ranma cracked his neck, and walked over to the sergeant who was probably one of those rare naïve rookies who somehow got promoted to higher ranks. "The suspect executed the hostage he was holding and we exterminated him. That's all there is too it." He started walking towards the big GMC Suburban with John, Al, and Vince, not at all bothered by what had happened, what he had just done, and the horrific ramifications of what had resulted.

Several other police cruisers arrived at the scene, swarming all over the place. The four SIS detectives casually drove back to their headquarters, Parker Center, to report in the events of the night.

***

One Week Later...

March 29th, 2001.

The Last Stop - West LA, California. 9:02 PM.

Cop hangouts in LA are few and far in between. They were all over the city, plagued with young cowboys and itchy trigger fingers. The average LAPD patrol officer consisted of a couple of basic traits that are immediately recognized: anal, sarcastic, overworked, cocky assholes. True, they were considered as some of the best officers in the world, with the most prestigious police academy in the U.S. (one that spans for 28 weeks and 1100+hours for the most comprehensive training program in law enforcement, exceeding even the FBI) and the best departmental organization from East to West. Hollywood bigshots and stars hired LAPD officers at extravagant rates of a thousand bucks/day salaries. Movie producers referred to LAPD officers and trainers for any technical support they might need for their mindless, multi-million dollar action movies.

But these officers were of the normal breed, the average LA cop. They had few places to hang out, because the rest of the world hated their fucking guts. There were more than plenty of scumbags who would gladly pull off a hit on a cop if they could spot them vulnerable. In reality there is a very fine line between some of the officers and the criminals they try to catch. Some of the desk badges were even lazy donut eaters wasting their time away to collect their pensions.

"Run that fucking drink over here, you bastard," some random patron yelled out to one of the bartenders.

This bar on the other hand, wasn't a usual cop hangout. It was one of those casual, "tough guy" hangouts, where guys brought in their girlfriends to look cool or to brag to friends about their street brawls or alcohol binges. It was the precise reason the four LAPD officers in the corner of the bar were sitting here right this moment, because they weren't part of the norm. Sure, they could've gone to a typical cop hangout like Hill's Code 7, but these four probably wouldn't have been too welcome due to their reputations. They were officers of a completely different sort, ones who were hard edged and unaccustomed to the customs that LAPD officers were accustomed to. They kept their profiles low, they didn't advertise their shield.

"Come on Ranma, easy on that drink," McClane told him.

Ranma shrugged and lifted his eyebrows, giving a glance to his friend/partner and then poured down another shot of his sake. Fortunately this bar had enough oriental customers coming in and out for the bartender to have Asian wines stocked up. Next to the sake bottle was some Korean plum wine, which was quite a surprise find in a place like this. Nothing hard, just an easy to drink wine that he could enjoy for the entire night.

Two other officers watched, amused at how much alcohol the pigtailed martial artist could handle. To anyone else they, he would have looked like an alcoholic, or perhaps he really was an alcoholic.

To the right was Detective (II) Al Waters, a light brown haired guy with a slick gelled hairstyle and cold, dark brown eyes, and an evil smirk that would scare even death row prisoners. He was 31 years old, joining the LAPD as soon as he was 21 after a short military stint. Al was a brilliant cop as well as detective, working for HQ as a Robbery-Homicide detective, with cop instincts that got every case he handled resolved, usually with under the table deals. He was an ex-Army Ranger who'd stayed on for a few years as reservist and had been deployed to several high-risk conflicts, so he had battle experience before he even earned his badge. His merciless behavior made him a top candidate for the SIS. He and Ranma shared a particular hobby together, one that involved automobiles, particularly muscle cars.

On the left was Detective (III) Vince Thompson, a 39-year-old veteran with dark brown hair and deep blue eyes. He was a tall and intimidating man, towering at 6' 3", but his face sported a smug and confident look that made criminals nervous whenever he interrogated them. His most prominent feature however was his deep, Southern accent, for he lived in Mississippi until he was in college. Vince was one of those guys who stayed young in spirit forever, he was physically almost 40 years old but his enthusiasm for police work was greater than even the perkiest of fresh out rookies. He joined the department when he was 24, getting choice posts and promotions due to his gift as a brilliant tactician. Vince was the brains of this group, able to track the moves of any criminal he comes upon, seeing as he worked for the Rampart and Pacific Divisions as a Robbery-Homicide detective. Added to the fact he had no problem killing hardened criminals who deserved to eat a bullet, he was a standout officer perfect for SIS duty. Although he wasn't the best overall pistoleer of the group, rumor had it that he was the fastest shooter in the entire department. Of course no one could prove it, everyone who'd seen him hadn't lived to tell what the hell happened. His trademark weapon was an old school blued Smith and Wesson Model 19 .357 Magnum with a customized 4" barrel and a couple thousand dollars worth of other tricked out parts, carried with the hammer cocked in an open cross draw holster, much to the dismay of his superior officers.

Taking the seat near the wall was Lieutenant (II) Detective John McClane, a hard-edged Irish cop who came over from the East Coast. Eighteen years of working in the law enforcement field offered him quite a number of interesting experiences. He started out as an officer over in the New York City Police Department, working his way to Lieutenant Detective status after twelve years. However, the spark of his career didn't happen until the winter of six years ago, when he came to Los Angeles to see his wife in the Nakatomi Plaza building over at Century City. But that was another story completely, but not the end of it. The next year there was the Dulles Airport incident, which was also a huge commodity by itself. And if things couldn't possibly get any more complicated, the year after McClane had to handle an explosives nut over in NYC after transferring back. It was a trilogy of "Die Hard" situations that seemed to pester men like McClane. ^_-

Seeing as how his wife worked in Southern California and New York life was too intense to keep up with when you had a family on the other side of the country, he transferred over to the Los Angeles Police Department as a favor by Mayor Richard Riordan, for handling the Nakatomi terrorist incident. It wasn't much of a surprise his combat expertise and uncanny detective work led him to the SIS. Sure, there was still a lot of action. But this time, he started the havoc, not the other way around.

Vince burped loudly in the middle of the table, taking a swig of his beer,

already half drunk. He gestured over to his oriental friend across from him.

The pig tailed boy was the odd one of the group, in a place where Asians were plentiful all over SoCal and hung out in stereotypical isolated cliques, he was one of a kind. It wasn't just the fact that he was sitting in a table with three other white guys (that sort of stuff wasn't THAT unusual, it was quite common still), or the fact that his muscles were so defined that you could see them through the white t-shirt he was wearing.

His roots were of someone who was totally unmatched to law enforcement, normally people who had his abilities just didn't take jobs as police officers, especially when they were foreigners.

25-year-old Ranma Saotome, Sergeant Detective (I), veteran police officer, even at his young age, hot shot investigator, and master martial artist carefully read the letter that was in front of him. It was a very simple letter, written in an unorthodox fashion without much of a business tone. But it was stamped with an aluminum seal at the corner, marked from a foreign government.

"So Saotome, you gonna take that job offer?" Vince asked. His unending alcohol consumption made him more than a bit woozy.

"You said you always wanted to go back to Japan, right? This is your chance! And I bet that job pays pretty well too!" Al exclaimed.

"Yeah, go for it. We'll miss you here though!" Vince butted in.

Ranma gave a slight frown, but McClane took care of it. "Come on guys, let him decide," he said, looking over to Ranma. "If you do take it, we'll miss you though."

The young officer sighed, "I don't know guys." He lifted the letter closer to him to read it.

The others promptly peered around his shoulder, to get a glimpse of what it said.

----------------------

Dear Sergeant Saotome,

Hello, I'm Commissioner Takayama from the National Security Agency of Japan and I'm here to recruit you for our agency. We have heard about a Japanese police officer working for the Special Investigative Squad of the Los Angeles Police Department. We have received info that you are a very skilled officer indeed with the abilities of advanced martial arts and fighting techniques and the ability to speak Japanese and English perfectly. I have a proposition for you. We have a spot open in the Public Safety Commission's Maximum Enforcement Division. I personally control this division and I ensure you that you will not regret working here. We are the Japanese equivalent of the LAPD SIS, except we believe you will find much more freedom here. Despite Japanese regulations on firearms you will get your choice on arms and equipment as well as transportation. Anyway here are the major details.

1. You get your choice of location in Japan, you will have a month to travel around at our expense to choose a suitable place to live.

2. Your position in the NSA will be the rank of Captain.

3. Your salary will start off at an estimated 5,000,000 yen a year plus full medical coverage and retirement benefit.

4. All living expenses will be paid by the government except for food and other luxury amenities.

5. You have your choice for weaponry as long as it is reasonable, as well as transportation.

6. You get a total of 7 weeks of paid vacation a year along with 2 weeks of paid sick leave. This is nonnegotiable unless it is a dire emergency.

Hopefully this is enough information for you concerning this job opportunity. If you are interested, please call 011-XX-XXX-XXXX-XXXX prefix XXXX. We look forward to having you join us to rid Japan of crime.

Sincerely,

Commander Akira Takayama

Japanese National Security Agency

-----------------------

Ranma frowned at how the letter was written so unprofessionally, it didn't even seem remotely close to a business proposal for a job transfer. This wasn't like martial arts or fighting, but Ranma believed that whatever he did, he should do it right.

His buddies however couldn't have cared less.

"Hey, not bad!" John said, lifting his eyebrows in amazement.

"Yeah, I wouldn't mind a job that has a lot of perks like that!" Vince said.

Hesitating, Ranma quickly thought up of a reason not to go. "Yeah, but I don't know," he trailed off. "You guys are like my brothers, I don't really have anyone back in Japan," he lied. He swirled around the sake he had in front of him with his finger, his mood required him to drink something more refined and sophisticated than draft beer.

His partner across him narrowed his eyes, sipping his beer slowly. "You know, in the whole year that I've known you, you've never really talked much about your life in Japan," he questioned.

Al joined him immediately with curiosity in his eyes. "He's right you know. You never talked about your life other than your training trip with your dad and how you got your curse." He sucked in some water through a straw that he had along with his alcohol and sprayed it across Ranma's face, goofing off as a child would.

The light spray of cold water was enough to trigger his curse, his height in the seat did not change, only the body became thinner and more defined. Voila! It was an instant morph to female. Fortunately, no one else in the bar noticed.

"Very funny asshole," the female Ranma chided. She wiped off her face with her hand, rubbing her temples as well in irritation as well as anxiety. It might have been funny considering how her face didn't smear with makeup, even though of course she would never use it, but one would expect an appearance that looked that good must be a result of a little tampering. Her face was beautiful enough to not require any form of cosmetics, perhaps it might've been Ranma's fine genetics or a trait of the curse. Either reason for her good looks was a mystery by itself.

She took her hand off her face, an empty look in her eyes, as if she was gazing at something. "I never did tell you guys anything did I?" she said. A heavy sigh flowed out of her lips, a trip down memory lane was coming up. "Except for all that fiancée shit?"

John was always skeptical about the small part of Ranma's life he (or she) did reveal, having three fiancées at once was something out of a bad TV show plot. "That always did sound like a load of shit to me. Even if you are a lady killer you ain't that big of a hot shot."

Al's drunken humor talk flew straight out of his ass. "You're still one fine lady when you're cursed!" he laughed. "ERRK!!"

Ranma made a vice out of her left hand on Al's crotch, crunching his balls into a painful cramp. She took out her wallet that had a few worn out photos with her free hand. "Take a look at this if you faggots don't believe me!"

The picture showed Ukyo, Akane, Shampoo, and Ranma standing side by side, smiling together, for once they didn't seem to be fighting, but in fun loving peace. In the background was a huge banner that read in Japanese Graduating Class of '94.

"Wow! They're really pretty!" Vince said, amused. "I guess you weren't full of shit. What were their names?"

Before Ranma could even reply Al let out a whiny groan, his face was completely blue and he seemed to be biting the inside of his cheek to get his mind away from the pain in his nuts. "Ranma...I'm sorry...please let go..." he groaned, the pain more evident with each word.

She let go with a grin, smacking him in the back of the head. "That'll teach you, fucker...Anyways, the blue haired girl's name is Shampoo, the one with the huge spatula is Ukyo Kuonji, and the one with short hair is Akane Tendo." Her eyes darkened and a sigh escaped at the last name.

"Man, you've had pictures like these and you never showed us? What's up with that man? I remember you told me just a little bit about this. You said you had all these girls trying to anything to get you, right?" John asked.

Ranma hesitated for a moment, wondering if she should tell them or not. But every one of these guys risked life and limb for her, they were her most trusted companions. They deserved to know a little about her. "Yeah, they were all my fiancées, like I said before. Everyone except for Akane always chased me, since she always hit my head with a mallet. Ukyo was my best friend, probably not anymore by now, since I haven't seen or even talked to her for four years. I had a pet name for her even, and called her Ucchan." Again she sighed at another painful realization. "Shampoo is a Chinese Amazon, who was actually required to marry me because of her stupid Amazon laws. It required that any male who defeats an Amazon female is required to marry the girl." Ranma left out the part about Kodachi Kuno chasing after him too, but since she wasn't a fiancée and had actually backed off a little from him since the last time they met...

"So, what happened?" Al interrupted.

Ranma rolled her eyes and let out an exasperated chuckle. "You wouldn't believe some of the stupid shit they pulled over the years. Some of em' poisoned me, some of them tricked me into doing things I didn't want to do, the list goes on. Imagine your life being controlled by a hurricane. That's a light way of describing what I had to go through for two years," she sighed. "The thing with Akane, she was different from the rest, but she still had her quirks."

"What about her?" John said.

"She was really the only person I truly loved in a romantic sense," he tried to say without dwelling on events from the past. "I even told her than in my sophomore year of high school. She used to hit me all the time because I made fun of her. Because of her I always tried to make a plan to get away from the other fiancées."

The others nodded their heads in understanding.

"For the remaining two years of high school I worked my ass off so that I could go to an American college and get away from Japan," she said somberly. "I surprised a lot of people. By the time I was graduating I was getting straight A's with honors and I was accepted to UCLA thanks to some contacts from my teachers. It was a real achievement for me, I used to be a failure when it came to academics," She scratched her head for a second. "But I guess what drove me on was love."

"Wow," the others said. They were goof offs during their high school careers, not caring what college they were to attend. To think a guy actually tried hard to get good grades was something that didn't quite get through to them. ^_-

John tapped his fingers on the table, looking like he was trying to concentrate on something. "Wait a sec. Even if you did do all that and get accepted to a UC, how'd you pay for everything? It must have been expensive."

Ranma took a sip of some plum wine and acknowledged John with a gesture of her hand. "Oh, that. I actually applied for a green card way in advance before I even knew what college I would get accepted to. I didn't care where, as long as they had an ROTC program. I did ROTC for the Army and they paid my tuition, I relied on scholarships and grants for the rest. It was easy for me and it wasn't a big deal. When I didn't join the Army afterwards, that caused a few problems though..." she trailed off.

*ROTC is the Reserve Officer Training Corp.

After absorbing Ranma's words through his hazed mind, McClane blinked. "ROTC? How'd you get into that? You should've been a Japanese citizen at the time..." he asked.

"Uh..." Ranma gulped. "I had some help falsifying some documents." Thanks to Nabiki, he thought.

John shrugged, and just shook his head.

"What happened to Akane, anyhow?" Al asked.

"I promised Akane that I would return to her and marry her. She was thrilled." She frowned at the next thought. "However, because I was so involved in school I didn't even visit her or anyone else back home till graduation. I only got occasional letters and phone calls. I was so involved in school that I graduated in only three years!" she exclaimed, lifting three fingers.

"Hmm... but what happened when you graduated," John asked.

"My mom and dad were the only ones who came to visit. You Americans have a very different school semester season, it sort of messed up my schedule. When I went back to Nerima I was in for a shock." A dangerous look crept into her eyes. "I found out Akane had cheated on me, she had fallen in love with another person. They hadn't slept together, but when I found out who and why I got pissed."

"Who was it?" they chirped in unison.

The bitterness was heavily apparent in her voice. "It was a somewhat good friend of mine. His name was Ryoga Hibiki. A person who couldn't find his way out of a fuckin' closet if his life depended on it. Worst sense of direction in the world. When I saw him though he'd bought a handheld GPS receiver and his days of getting lost were over."

"How did it happen?" John said, intrigued.

The pigtailed girl lowered her eyes for a moment. "Akane was lonely by herself in Tokyo University. She still loves me now I think, but as a friend. She was attacked one night her freshman year but was overpowered by a bunch of thugs." She could still feel the angst of regret in her heart for not being there when the person she had loved most needed her. "Her martial arts skill had gone lax at the time and she wasn't good enough to defend herself. That's when Ryoga found her fortunately and helped her out. Over the next few years I guess they grew close..."

John tried to lighten the mood with a chuckle. "Let me guess, you were horrified and heartbroken so you fled to the US and enrolled in the Los Angeles Police Academy?"

Ranma-chan gave him an irritated scowl. "I didn't RUN away. I was about to tell Akane about Ryoga's curse, that he was the little black pig that she had kept as a pet. However luckily for Ryoga he had found Jusenkyo by accident and cured himself."

The others pretended to act as if what she had just said made logical sense. Which of course it didn't, to normal people.

She rambled on anyhow. "You know, he wasn't that bad a guy, he brought back some of the stuff that was the cure for my curse and offered it to me, but my mind was in turmoil and I completely went overboard. But..." she hesitated for a moment. "I knew in my heart that beating him up wouldn't change anything, so I let him be. He's not completely at fault." Ranma looked up to see the others shifting uncomfortably, and decided to change the topic. "You remember how I told you guys about my ambitions to be a teacher?"

Vince was the only one to nod his head. "It sounds familiar."

"When I married Akane," he paused. "That is, IF I had married Akane," he resumed, "I was supposed to take her family dojo and be a teacher there. However, that didn't happen so it left me wondering about my future. I loved helping people and making them feel better in college by defending them with my martial arts. I was also really interested in police work because they have the opportunity to help the defenseless."

McClane laughed at the last part, while chugging his beer at the same time. "Glad you feel that way, man."

She replied with a nod. "So did my mom. My dad Genma was a jerk and he blamed me for losing Akane and the dojo. He was such a greedy bastard, but he was surprisingly supportive after I made my intentions clear. He used to have a curse too, you know. Turned into a panda, but was cured thanks to Ryoga. Ryoga brought back cures for everyone who had a curse, but I'm the only one who didn't use it."

Vince tried to pretend he didn't hear that last part about the panda, although the story of Jusenkyo was recited to him numerous times by Ranma. "That's strange of you."

"I guess it sort of is strange. I've changed a lot in 9 years. I didn't used to fucking cuss all the time or even think of the prospect of killing anyone. I used to be so hard headed that I never apologized for anything and I always insulted people before thinking twice. When I was 16 I never would have imagined being a cop right now. Can you guys imagine me being a nice guy who doesn't like to hurt people?"

John gave another laugh. "Hey fool, now you're just talkin' like a pansy. And you're STILL hardheaded," he joked. "It's not like you enjoy killing for yourself. You do it for the sake of the safety of the citizens of LA. By the way, why didn't you take the cure?"

Ranma paused at that question for a moment. She racked her brain hard for an answer. "After nearly ten years I got used to it, and it's a great advantage. Anyway, my mom was happy for me and supported me fully. I don't know how, but for some reason she knew how reputable LA cops were and said that my job would bring great honor to the family, despite what my old man said. Heh. Getting into Elysian Park* was a joke. Can't believe how easy it was in there."

*Elysian Park is the location of the Los Angeles Police Academy, near Dodger Stadium.

Both Al and Vince grumbled at that, going to the Academy was like going to boot camp.

"I remember you telling me a little about this," Al said. "You were given SWAT training right? I remember that's how you became so good at everything."

"Yeah. Actually the SWAT training was really just an added course on CQB and advanced shooting training that was a special privilege given to me later on after I graduated," she smiled. "I even got special permission to train at Camp Pendleton with Navy SEALs. That was a helluva a lot of fun! And I was lucky! The South Korean 707th Special Forces Battalion was there to cross train with the SEALs. Those guys are fuckin' animals, great martial artists and great fighters too!"

"Who are they?" the asked again in unison.

"The 707 are the Korean equivalent of Delta Force, the US Army's top counter-terrorism unit. The 707th is the most elite SF team in Korea, and definitely one of the best in the world. Although they weren't training with SEALs instead of Deltas, I got a chance to meet them. But the coolest thing about them was their hand to hand fighting style, Tuk-gong Moo-sul."

John lifted one of his eyebrows. "Oh, that funky shit you use when you fight hand to hand with guys and kill them?"

"Yeah. Literally translated it means 'The Specialty Art', I think. It's a little hard to explain," Ranma said, scrunching his face. "It's more effective than my family's art, the Saotome Ryuu of Musabetsu Kakutou."

"What's that mean?" Vince asked, puzzled.

"Oh yeah," she said smacking her own head in realization. "Translated it means the indiscriminate art of grappling, Vince. I like to call it Anything Goes."

"Oh," he replied.

A waitress gave Al a small bottle of Smirnoff that he had ordered while Ranma was talking. He whisked it into his mouth and purged it down in satisfaction. "So, what'd you learn?" he asked in a slurred voice.

"Actually, it took a lot of trouble to get an opportunity to learn it. Those Koreans were extremely stubborn about showing me anything. They said it was top secret and illegal for me to learn, or something along those lines." She gave a small laugh to herself. "I never would have admitted that they were more effective until their weakest guy messed me up good and hard in less than 30 seconds. No special moves, no fancy tricks or weapons, just pure skill. After a couple of more rounds I was at least able to hold a fight without getting pummeled, but I knew they could still beat me. But it didn't discourage me at all, I mean," she paused and tried to find the right thing to say. "The only thing that's standing between me and them is their technique of fighting. All I had to do was learn it, and I could kick their asses. They laughed at me in a playful way and decided to teach me their art since I was a nice guy at heart and a cop with potential. They entire unit always has a Tuk-gong grandmaster following them around whenever they do training overseas. He was a skinny old crone, but his precision and skill was top notch, it wasn't that he was a freakin' martial arts maniac, he had years to hone himself to be good."

"Ehehe, that's coo'," Al said, the alcohol running strong in his bloodstream. He didn't pay any attention to the rambling Ranma, who sometimes had a tendency to gloat on and on when it came to martial arts.

"Easy with that drink Al," Ranma cautioned his friend. Actually, he was in no position to talk, considering how much drinking he did at home.

Al just waved her off with a drunken gaze. "Keep going."

Ranma just shrugged and decided to leave him alone. "So anyway, in essence I learned three new arts. Tae-Kwon Do and Hapkido were required to be learned first, but they were easy because it was so similar to Kenpo. However, Tuk-gong training was HELL. They beat the shit out of me, taught me more cheap tricks than I'd like to admit, and most importantly they taught me the purpose of it. I spent a lot of time visiting them whenever they came back to cross-train in the US."

"What is it?" they asked anxiously.

"It horrified me that it wasn't a martial art at all. All martial arts are meant to defend. This one was actually designed purely to kill or disable. Mostly the former," she said, a small frown on her face.

"No wonder you don't want anyone left alive," McClane joked.

"You know, you're almost right," she said with a serious face. "It's a deadly fighting style, it took me my entire vacation of my first year in patrol to grasp it. I became so good at it that their master couldn't even beat me in a fight after a while. But the battalion didn't care, they seemed to sense I was an OK guy, I guess. They wished me well and hoped I could help out many people. Personally, I still don't quite understand why they decided to train me."

John nodded, his eyebrows lifted. "That's alright in my book, and cool too." He glanced at his wrist watched and his eyes widened. "Jeez, we've been talkin' and drinkin' for a while. It's almost midnight."

"Yeah," Al and Vince replied in stereo.

Ranma-chan glanced at her watch too. "Is it really that late?" She shrugged. "Oh well."

She looked over to the bartender, who was very close by. "Hey bartender, do you think you can hand me a bowl of hot water?" She didn't feel like dumping a cup of water and drenching herself, a splash to the face would do.

The bartender was cranky and was irritated because of several varying factors throughout the night, although the details were not important. "I don't got any so fuck off, lil' bitch," he snarled, menacingly.

Ranma didn't frown or make a face, her eyebrows simply lifted as she pulled out her Beretta 92FS pistol from her holster, clicking a small switch that activated the laser sight in the internal guide rod. A bright red dot illuminated between the bartender's eyes, rendering him into stone. Ranma made sure the pistol was tucked low enough so that no one else could see.

"I suggest you find some hot water before you find out that lead doesn't taste very good, asshole. You don't look too good. Maybe you need a little-" Ranma clicked back the hammer for emphasis, "-iron, in your diet."

The bartender nodded his head vigorously and complied immediately. "Ye..yes maam..."

As a cruel punishment Ranma continued to focus the laser on the bartender's head as he scrambled for some hot water. He finally managed to get a bowl of warm water and placed it in front of Ranma-chan. "Here you go, maam," he weakly squirmed.

Ranma holstered her gun and shooed him. "Now fuck off." She splashed some water on her face and morphed back into a male. The patrons of the bar didn't notice the change because Ranma's crew was in a corner, plus most of them were too plastered to worry about it anyway.

"Let's go guys," Ranma signaled to the door.

Just as they got up, a small dispute erupted, between a girl getting abused by another male.

The four police officers sighed. "Does this just happen to us wherever we go?" Ranma asked. He sighed at what was coming. "I'll take care of this..."

"Oy, Ranma," McClane called to him. "Don't forget, we got a special city council hearing to attend for that damn Roberto case. Wear a nice suit and tie, alright?"

Ranma turned his head. "No problem, boss," he replied, smirking as he cracked his knuckles.

Alcohol does some funny things to people.

***

March 30th, 2001.

LA Civic Center – Los Angeles, California. 1:30 PM.

"Please state your name, rank, serial number, and post."

"Ranma Saotome, Sergeant Detective level two, badge number 18991, Metro Division Special Investigations Section."

A balding Asian man with glasses sitting on top of a wooden panel with other city council members cleared his throat and stroked his goatee. He looked at Ranma and looked down at a folder of documents. "I see that you have quite an impressive background, Detective Saotome. I remember reading about you in the newspapers and hearing about you in the news last year and the year before about your escapades. I can tell that the city owes a lot to your good deeds."

"Thank you, Councilman Lee. I do what I can to protect and serve this city."

Another council member on the other end of the panel puffed a loud breath of exasperation, sneering at Ranma. He fixed his glare at him, his eyes never faltering away from Ranma's.

Which Ranma simply ignored, despite the visually hostile looks the councilman was giving towards him. He gave the man a quick glance, and looked back at Councilman Lee.

"Alright, Detective Saotome. We've already reviewed this case thoroughly, looked at all the photos, the suspects, victims, and read through the accounts that you, Detectives McClane, Waters, and Thompson, as well as several other patrol officers who arrived at the scene. I must say, some of this DOES look incriminating. I'd like to hear from you, in person, about how you justify this officer involved shooting."

"Yes, sir. The suspect, Roberto Dominguez, a known, although undocumented, serial rapist and armed burglar, entered the aforementioned convenience store in Wilshire and forcefully robbed, assaulted, raped, then murdered a single female clerk who happened to be working there on a late night shift. We were tracking him, when we saw him commit the crime, we chased after him. He responded in hostility with altered assault rifles, we gave chase, and we deemed that deadly force was needed to take them down." Ranma cleared his throat. "The death of the hostage he held in his getaway vehicle is an unfortunate tragedy, however it was beyond our control."

Lee nodded. "I see, looks like there was nothing can be done. That's a shame."

"This is ridiculous!" the councilman at the end of the panel yelped. His glare to Ranma had slowly turned into a raging expression of anger. "You and I both know this unit PURPOSEFULLY waited as this Dominguez character was robbing that store in front of them!!" He stood up from his seat and angrily pointed his finger at Lee. "Lee, you know damn well what they did, and you're still asking them questions they can weasel out of!"

Lee took his microphone and glared at the councilman. "You will not go out of order like that again, Councilmen Rodgers. Please, sit down!" he scowled.

Rodgers threw his hands in the air and shook his head in disbelief. "Unbelievable! All of you!" He directed his attention to Ranma again. "You've been on IA's hot list for YEARS Saotome! I know you've been through some tough situations, but the things you do are unacceptable, do you hear me!?" He leaned forward from his counter. "What kind of a cop watches a woman get raped?" he slithered. "There were nearly a hundred casings of 5.56mm ammo scattered around the crime scene! If it hadn't been for a nosy by-the-book sergeant at the scene, I'm sure you thugs would've had others clean up the mess for you! How the heck do you justify that?!"

Ranma didn't falter. "We are the Los Angeles Police Department's secret weapon against hardened criminals and repeat felony offenders. We operate under official departmental police policy, in the Metropolitan Division of Parker Center. The Special Investigative Section specializes in dealing with the worst of the worst, the kind of slime that good, decent folk do not even want to know about," he crisply said. "If SIS hadn't been there, Councilman Rodgers, that rape and murder would have happened anyway. And then tomorrow...no. Not even tomorrow. Let's say next week, when people assume they're safe again and they think he's not around, he'll go out on another rape. And another. And then another. Perhaps your own daughters and wives. We do this, so that we can put these bad guys away for good, so that they'll NEVER do it again."

Rodgers looked flustered, but still held on to what he believed was right. "But--"

"But what? Hmm? There is a reason this unit has been around since the 1960's, ladies and gentleman. Los Angeles... is not the City of Angels. No, it's far from it. Councilman Rodgers, someone of your stature and position could not possibly know what we go up against, and what we must face. Until you've been out there, and tangled with some of the scum, you JUST-DON'T-KNOW."

Lee hid a smirk from under his hand, he'd been quite understanding of what these men did for this city, whether they were morally correct or not, they did make things better. Not to mention he had a lunch appointment to make.

"Why you!" Rodgers yelled out.

"Restrain yourself, Councilman," Lee warned.

"Don't give me this nonsense that I, we, or anyone else could've done something different," Ranma firmly stated. "You don't know the people we deal with. You don't WANT to know who we deal with. Los Angeles is barely a hospitable place to live as it is, with a unit like ours to keep it inline. Without SIS, we'd turn into a complete rotting cesspool of crime, murder, and rape. If not that, the media sensation and panic factor among the citizens would ruin this city all together."

"I think we've heard enough today, detectives. You are excused. Council adjourned," Lee announced.

Ranma smirked. "Thank you, sir." He turned around to give his friends a wink.

The councilmen left from their seats and went out the back door, with a flustered and angry Rodgers getting up last to depart.

The rest of the men walked out of the room together, ignoring some of the glares they were receiving from several other city employees who were present.

When Ranma and his crew got outside, they were greeted by the sight of tall skyscrapers and endless gray business buildings. The familiar smell of dense LA smog, blowing lightly on their faces was something that took some getting used to, no thanks to the quick paced acceleration of the cars littered on the overcrowded streets.

"That didn't go by too bad, did it?" Vince said smugly. He loosened up his bright red silk necktie and unbuttoned the top of his blue collar shirt.

"Could've been worse," McClane replied. "That Rodgers sure could've screwed us over."

"Yeah, a lot worse," Ranma mumbled while holding a Bic lighter in his mouth. "And we still have the shooting review with the board of commissioners to worry about. Their verdict is taking longer than expected." He was digging through both his pockets for something, and found what he was looking for. It was a small cigarette pack, with Marlboro printed on the label in big bold black letters. The pack looked quite old, as if it had been carried for a long time and used infrequently.

Ranma pulled out the last cigarette in the pack and stuck it in his mouth, lighting it up and taking a hit.

"I thought you quit," John asked, his voice quiet.

"I did. I haven't smoked one in four weeks, honest," Ranma said, pausing to take another hit. "This is my last pack of Reds, and I'm finished."

"Yeah. Your folks in Japan probably wouldn't like that," McClane replied, nodding his head slowly. "I know how hard it is. Took a while for me."

"Yeah." He started to frown, puffing a fat drag through the side of his mouth. His lips smacked and his tongue swished around in his mouth to get rid of the stale taste of the old stogie. He sighed in disgust. "I have the mentality to go on a training trip in the wild for years at a time and be able to train in martial arts till my body goes numb, but I have trouble quitting a fuckin' smoke."

"Hey, now..." Al tried to comfort him.

Ranma brushed him off, finishing off the last of his cig and tapping away the ashes. "Don't worry about me. I can hack it. Capisce?"

***

March 31st, 2001.

SIS HQ, Parker Center – Los Angeles, California. 11:00 AM.

Ranma casually walked past the heavily armed police guards standing nearby the elevator and went straight towards the SIS Bureau entrance. Strange, seeing sentries placed on this floor, he thought to himself. Was there some VIP visiting Parker Center?

Several people smiled and greeted him, all of them fellow detectives who were SIS operatives. The pigtailed boy walked through the office of his captain, along with several documents in his hand.

"Ohayou, Captain Davis," Ranma chirped.

Davis lifted his head from a thick folder of documents to give Ranma a frustrated grimace. "I really don't want to hear any wise-ass Japanese remarks from you kid, besides, it's a little too late for good morning."

"Fine, then. Good morning. I'm glad to see you too, sir," Ranma replied grinning.

"Hey, good work on eliminating that bastard last week. I got confirmation today from the DA that we aren't going to get any more trouble from his death or the hostage. The deputy chief and the shooting board called back too. You guys are off the hook, the shooting was BARELY under policy. And by barely, I'm saying you four fucked up. However..." Davis trailed off, fixing a cold glare on Ranma.

Ranma was forming a big sweatdrop at the back of his head. Davis' emphasis on barely didn't even mean that, it meant that he had to go pull some favors and convince some people that his officers weren't trigger happy street sweepers.

"You and John's goon squad pulled a stupid stunt at the bar, the other day. You didn't have to maim those guys you know," Davis said.

"Well," Ranma hesitated, thinking. "I don't know. He probably would've recovered and he'd probable continue attacking other innocent people. Would it help if I told you that we ran a check on one of them and he turned out to be a wanted sex offender evading his parole hearing?"

"Fuck it." Davis shrugged. "Whatever. Enough of this chit chat. What did you come and see me for?"

Ranma pulled out a letter from his jacket and handed it to Davis. It was the same letter he'd received from the Japanese NSA. "I was thinking about taking this job, Captain."

Davis took the letter with a slightly crestfallen look on his face. "I see," he replied. "I remember this letter." He gave a witty smile. "I guess they want you badly, huh?"

"Yeah, it's quite a change for me."

"You really gonna take it?" Davis said. His voice was quiet. "We'll sure miss you, ya know. You've done more for this city as an individual than an entire precinct."

Ranma felt a bit hesitant. "I know, I know. This job is a great opportunity for me. It's chance for me to go back to Japan, something even I can't avoid forever. I miss life there..."

The older captain looked Ranma straight in the eyes, pondering to himself. He couldn't believe this. The cocky asshole who he'd regretted recruiting and didn't even want to bother with at first was now the same person he couldn't bare to see leave. "Well, Saotome. If it means that much to you, I guess you have my permission to go."

A smile crept on to Ranma's face. "Really? Like I needed your permission?" he smirked.

"Yeah, yeah," Davis said, waving him off. "You are going to come back and at least visit us once in a while, won't you?"

Ranma replied as if it was the silliest question anyone ever asked him. "Of course."

Davis' shook off the remaining feelings of melancholy within him and tried to feel happy for Ranma. "You still have a sense of duty even though you won't be with us. You're simply amazing." His face hardened and he gave Ranma a serious look. "Hey kiddo, if it ever doesn't work out there remember that you still have a place with us detectives, ok? You don't even have to reapply, I'll get you back into the meat grinder with a phone call."

The pigtailed police officer was genuinely surprised to hear this. "Thanks Cap'n." He pulled out another set of papers from his jacket pocket and handed them to his boss. "Hopefully you can push my resignation request so that it will be processed quicker?"

"Ha!" Davis snatched the documents out of Ranma's hands. "You forget who you're talking to here? I'm the captain of the dirtiest police unit in the US!"

Ranma chuckled. "Don't say that, Captain."

"Oh yeah, you're going to be a Captain in your new job, aren't ya?"

"Yeah, a 25 year old captain, isn't it great?" Ranma grinned.

"Hmph," Davis huffed. "All I have to say to that is I don't understand you fucking Japanese." Davis gestured for Ranma to sit down. "This is gonna take a little while, but I'll get you cleared right now, so take a seat."

The captain made several phone calls, signing various different documents and making note of several important pieces of info for Ranma. The two chatted along in between the phone calls, and within an hour everything was set.

Davis rested the phone on the receiver. "That's it. You're free to go."

"That quick?" Ranma said, astonished. The average resignation took 2-3 weeks. He accomplished it in 3-4 phone calls.

"Yeah, just pulling a few strings. You know you got a couple of favors you have to pay back yourself, right Saotome?"

"......" It was something he had conveniently shoved to the back of his mind, storing it away and forgetting about it. Ranma had been expecting this though, something he inevitably remembered in his preparation to leave his current life. "Yeah, I'm guessing someone decided to remind you too?"

"Yeah, Hanna heard it through the grapevine almost immediately. Give him a visit, same place as always."

Davis saw Ranma hesitate for a moment and look down on something on the desk, before he looked up and reluctantly nodded his head.

"You leaving tomorrow?"

"Yep. I packed up everything in my apartment and the movers are taking them out right now as we speak. My plane leaves at 1:30 AM."

"So then you're really leaving tonight!"

"I guess so," Ranma said. His expression was somber. "I guess we'll see each other in the future then." He stuck out his hand, speaking in a proud voice. "It was an honor working with you sir."

Davis gave Ranma a firm, strong handshake. "Thank you, Sergeant. It was a pleasure," Davis said, concealing the sadness in his voice. His face turned into mock sternness. "Now get the fuck outta here and go say goodbye to your buddies."

Ranma exited with a grin and a two fingered salute.

-------------

Cocked, locked, and loaded. It was just the way these guys liked it with their guns of blazin', and also the fact that all their weapons and ammo were free for any use.

McClane finished up assembling a small subcompact submachine gun, the kind that you could easily hide under a thin set of clothes and still carry around. Of course to the average civilian, even possessing one of these weapons either at home or on the body would make it an instant felony.

"Hey, it's Saotome," Vince pointed at the locker door.

Curious as to why his friends and unit were hanging out in the armory, Ranma walked in to greet them. "What the hell are you guys doing?"

"Hey, Ranma," McClane said. He pulled off a rifle from a rack and placed it inside a huge bag.

Ranma chuckled at the ridiculous display of mass firepower. "What the hell are you guys doing?" he said with a smile.

Vince perked his head up from field stripping a pistol he had in his hand. "Since we're the only group at the moment without an assignment, we got ourselves a short vacation. We're going to take all these boom sticks to Elysian Park and go buck wild."

"Does Mr. Man Among Men want to join us?" Al joked from the far corner of the locker.

"Ha, ha, ha," Ranma mocked sarcastically. His face turned slightly crestfallen. "Actually, I'm here for something else fellas. Sorry, but I can't go. I gotta visit Robbery homicide downstairs and take care of some unfinished business. Then I'm leaving for Japan tonight."

The three older detectives fell completely silent for a couple of moments, speechless at the impact of Ranma's words.

Finding the courage to say something more, Ranma broke the ice of the moment. "I know it's a little quick, but that's how it turned out to be."

"Wow, those feds are pretty quick in setting you up," McClane said, trying to ease up the tension. It didn't help much.

Ranma lifted his head at the comment. "They're not really feds, you know. The division I'm going to work for is a law enforcement section with the ability to police. They already had some movers at my apartment right after I was done packing. They did it quick as hell too. I guess they want me pretty badly, I even received First Class tickets."

Al walked over and got closer to the conversation. He eyed the Beretta saddle on Ranma's belt. "I guess you're here to turn in your sidearm then.

"Yep," Ranma replied. He unlatched the pistol from the odd looking holster and unclipped his badge and spare ammo clips. They were placed in a small plastic bin on a rack. "I'm probably going to be issued new sidearms when I get to Japan. I'll probably get another Beretta since I get to keep my old holster."

"That's the only gun you take home with you," McClane said, looking at the bin. "It's like you're in love with it."

"Not really," Ranma replied. "I sold off my Smitty J-frame and a lot of my duty gear the other day."

Vince looked sad and morose. He didn't think Ranma would actually take the job. "I can't believe this. The guy we loved to hate is now the guy we can't let go. Friend or enemy, you always was a bastard," he chuckled.

"Can we visit you, maybe, at least?" John asked hopefully.

"Well," Ranma idly said. He thought about it for a moment, thinking of what they'd do if they ever came to Japan. "I guess you can. You don't even have to ask," he finished, smiling.

"Do you have a phone number we can reach you at?" Vince asked.

"Yeah," Ranma said. He pulled out a piece of paper that already had a number written on it. "It's funny, you know. The NSA even lets me choose my own phone number. This number here will direct you to someone who can contact me."

"Thanks," John said, pocketing the note.

Al wasn't satisfied with the way they were all parting. "Wait! We gotta have a going away party for you at least!"

Ranma's face fell. "Sorry, I don't think I'll have the time to do that."

"Now that's fucked up, Ranma. We're your buddies here, we can't even have a last drink together?" Al looked visibly upset.

"It's because of that I didn't want to have some tearful, emo, going away party," Ranma said with weak smile. "You know you guys are my brothers in arms."

He looked at the disappointed faces of his friends and fellow teammates. "But when you guys ever visit me in Japan, we'll go buck wild. Okay?"

This was good enough for them. "Hell yeah!" they all replied enthusiastically in unison.

"Bye guys, it was an honor working with all of you," Ranma said. He turned to walk out the locker.

"Wait, Sergeant Saotome."

Ranma turned around to see a stern looking Lt. McClane. "What is it, John?" he asked, confused.

McClane grabbed Ranma's badge from the bin and walked towards him. "As the official leader of this group, although we all know who the real leader is," he said, giving Ranma a wink, "you will keep this badge as an honorary gift." John grabbed Ranma's right hand and placed the badge in his palm. "You've earned the right to have it with you for what you've done for us. God knows, you of all people deserve it."

Without a word, Ranma clasped the badge in his hand, both surprised and moved. He looked up to see McClane smiling at him. "Thank you Lieutenant McClane." He straightened his back and gave his friend and partner a salute.

Vince came up to Ranma and gave him a hearty slap on the back. "Get outta here before we get all mushy, ya bastard!"

Al gave Ranma a firm handshake as a final farewell. "Later, Saotome. I pray you good luck for the future."

McClane gave him one last pat on the back. "Yippy ki yay, motherfucker.* Good luck with your new life," he said with a smile.

*Shameless plug.

Ranma smiled, that was John's trademark farewell. He stepped back and gave a bow. "Thank you, all of you." He swiveled around and walked out the locker, leaving behind three men to reminisce about memories past.

John looked on at the locker door even after Ranma left. "Fuck..." he quietly mumbled. "You're one of a kind, Saotome."

-------------

As he walked down these white halls, he kept wondering how different life would've been if he had stayed on course with his original plans to be a detective for the main bureau. Not that he had failed; he had accomplished working as an investigator out of Parker Center.

But this was Robbery-Homicide, Metro's Robbery-Homicide. The crème de la crème of the department. Sure, he'd worked in the same building, only one floor above. But being only a staircase or an elevator ride away, what a world of difference there was in the respect they were shown, the way the public viewed them, and the general mission to protect and serve. SIS wasn't regarded as one of the department's team players, or as a collective part of the law enforcement effort. They were surgical tools, rogue warriors who operated on single and specialized agendas only, and occasionally called upon by other branches to do surveillance work on trickier high profile criminals.

Several of the detectives who walked past looked surprised to see him as they headed towards the elevators, they didn't exchange any words and offered a nod to greet him.

The metal framed door slid open with an electric whir with a touch of a pad on the wall. Ranma read the jet black "Major Cases Unit" label that was imprinted on the wire reinforced glass window as it slid out of view, pausing for a moment before he stepped in. The room was similar to the setup SIS had, except with better furnishings and much whiter, cleaner walls. The desks were strewn with documents, whiteboards chock full of scribbled dry erase markers with mindless circles everywhere, and the stale gust of re-circulated air from the musty central air conditioner pushed the scent of cheap Taster's Choice brew that had been opened from a pack with an expired sell-by-date.

The left corner of the large room housed a private office with an open white framed glass door, with a connecting large stationary glass window showcasing who was inside. Ranma looked in as he walked towards the corner office, ignoring several looks by the few detectives who were present and working at their desks. The occupant of the corner office looked busy as he read some documents that were in an open manila folder, but Ranma knew full well that son of a bitch knew he was coming towards him.

It was as he walked in and closed the door behind him that the detective looked up as if on cue to see Ranma coming up to his desk and sitting down. "Sergeant Saotome, I didn't know whether to expect you here or not."

"Shut the fuck up, Hanna. I'm not here for chit chat."

Lead Robbery-Homicide detective Lieutenant Vincent Hanna gently laid his hands on top of each other on his desk. His thick square reading glasses made his eyes look bigger than they were. "You know, in my 29 years in this department," he smacked his lips as he smoothly removed his glasses with his left hand and tossed them on the table, "I've never had a young, barking, slant-eyed chink Asian motherfucker like you talk to me like that. Ever."

"As soon as I leave this building, I'm out of the LAPD." Ranma's face looked cool and calculated.

He looked at the aging relic in front of him, a truly horrendous example of a man who had seen it all. The thrice divorced detective in front of him wore a bright, almost luminous red necktie to an equally shining black shirt, covered by a pinstriped dark gray suit that was devoid of any wrinkles, lint, or visual blemishes in general. The collars of his shirt were perfectly starched, and his messily styled dark and thin hair took away some of the dreariness of the big black bags that sagged under his weary fish eyes.

"I came to pay back my debts," Ranma simply declared. "I'm not going to hide from them."

"Yeah, I never took you for a rat motherfucker. You've always been the soldier. That proud warrior," Vincent slithered, his lips still smacking. He leaned back in his chair, eyebrows raised and his eyes narrowed. "I'd hate to give a beef to your captain for covering up what you fucked up."

"Don't remind me," Ranma answered with clenched teeth. He took a slow breath in to calm himself, and he leaned forward to put his elbows on the table and propped his chin under his fists. "Tell me what you need to get done."

Lt. Hanna grabbed his reading glasses and nearly chucked them back on, immediately immersing himself back in to the documents that were scattered on his table. He didn't notice Ranma getting even more visibly agitated with him, as the younger detective couldn't stand being dicked around with.

"I'm guessing you still aren't willing to give up your homies in La Eme, are you?"

Ranma shook his head, as if he were motioning to Hanna that he had no chance. "They helped me find out all the fuckers involved in the deal that got Ichino killed. They're still helping out a couple of detectives in and around. I'm not gonna rat them out."

"Stubborn motherfucker. Just give me those fucking beaners and I wouldn't even have to have you lift a finger. Mexican Mafia is just another shit bag in the wind, son. I guess I'll have to give you the hard way out." Hanna reached into a desk drawer that was full of files and he pulled out a picture from one of them, with a sheet attached to it. He wordlessly handed it over to Ranma.

"Who's this guy?" Ranma asked. The picture showed a middle aged Caucasian with a ponytail. Guy looked pretty enough to be a model. He flipped to the attached sheet.

"He's a professional thief named Chris Shiherlis, got away over six years ago after a shootout that resulted in one dead detective. One of my own. Had a chance to get him then and blew it. He's been clean since and resurfaced in LA. We haven't been able to tail him with anything substantial."

"I remember this case," Ranma said frowning. It was a really big matter, something he had remembered watching on the news and later studied in the academy. The version he heard though from both the media and through the academy was that all suspects involved had been killed. "There was someone who got away?" He looked at Lt. Hanna with thinned, accusing eyes, he couldn't believe someone of Hanna's caliber would let someone slip away.

"I fucking did what I could you fucking brat," Hanna spat, anger rising from past wounds. It was a case that had festered and haunted him for years, and finally a favor from SIS would work in his favor to resolve it. "Just get rid of this fucking cockroach, and we're even."

Ranma looked away in disgust but not in surprise. A grave mistake he had made earlier in his career was covered up as a favor to later cash in on this. Ranma had known for a while that he would end up pulling a hit to pay for his sin. "How do you want it done?"

"Simple and straight, no bullshit involved. Get something messy, come back here to dump the gun to your buddies, and fly the fuck out of the country. You won't get caught. No one will pursue a thing. I'll take care of that myself."

"Will he be at this address?" Ranma said, getting up to his resigned fate. He knew the older detective in front of him was a self-righteous bastard through and through, this assignment at least gave no moral qualms as to whether the suspect deserved to die or not. Cop killers gave him an extra absence of mercy.

"No guarantees he'll be home, he might be out. You might have to camp out. I don't give a fuck really, not my problem. I just know you're gonna get it done, or someone else is going to pay what you owe."

"I'll take care of it." He got up and picked up the photo from Hanna's desk, and turned to walk out.

"For what it's worth," Hanna blurted suddenly, causing Ranma to spin in surprise, "You've been a good cop. Better than most. I just pray to God your soul is salvaged from where you've dragged it."

Ranma barely finished listening to what the senior officer had to say, shuffling out the door and closing door behind him as quick as possible.

***

March 31st, 2001.

Pacific Palisades Luxury Condos. Hermosa Beach, California. 8:59 PM.

Cursing at the digital clock on the Crown Vic's dashboard for the umpteenth time, Ranma threw another empty beer can into the back of the seat. Bad habits died hard, he had bought a 12-pack of Bud Light to keep him some company. The locale was far better than he could've wished for himself, with an empty, dark and desolate parking lot that had a clear view of his target's cream colored Cadillac Eldorado. Hermosa Beach was a regular hotspot for the young, a laid back beach town that had a connecting boardwalk promenade with the neighboring beach towns. It was just a sheer stroke of luck that this particular block was unusually empty and free of almost any traffic.

It was easy surveillance for the pigtailed detective, his only problem being the constraint of time. He had just seen his target through the windows of the condos, getting dressed and probably ready to head out soon. Ranma noticed how carefree his behavior was for a known bank robber and wanted cop killer, but since the guy had stayed clean since and the heat from his escapades had subsided years ago he probably didn't find anything to worry about. He certainly didn't mind little paranoid details like leaving his blinds open or even scoping out his surroundings to track any tails.

Ranma shook his head, dead cops and their ghosts were never forgotten.

Resting on his lap was a synthetic black stocked shotgun, a Remington 1187 semi-automatic with a gas cycled action. The magazine tube was extra long and it extended an inch or two beyond the eighteen inch barrel.

After what seemed like an eternity his target came out. Chris Shiherlis was an average looking man, not overly tall, not really a big build, and a normal blonde haircut. His features were sharp and he looked like a pretty boy, but he didn't fit any stereotypical archetype for a professional criminal.

The quiet, unassuming ones are the most dangerous, Ranma thought. Not because they looked like they could, but you wouldn't expect that they CAN. He was already up and about and blending with the shadows of the buildings near his victim's car. Professional he may be, it was no match for Ranma's sublime stealth.

Shiherlis walked over to his parked Cadillac and stepped inside, fumbling with his keys into the ignition. He barely managed to crank the starter when he saw a thin shadow across his dash which reflected the moonlight. His heart instinctively paused as he panned to the left, his shoulders tensing up.

His brown eyes passively locked onto a set of dull gray blue ones, which were also aligned down a cold steel barrel that was aimed at his face. Ranma gave Chris a moment to let the situation sink into his head, and get a good accusatory look into his soul. Ranma wanted him to know without a shadow of a doubt, his time for retribution had come.

Most people flinched and screamed or shivered pathetically when confronted with the last moment of their lives. Chris Shiherlis wasn't most people. He had done things, evil things, that he had forced through so many times that he had been able to sleep at night without gut wrenching regret despite his sins.

With this 12-gauge muzzle pointed right at him, he dared not blink or look away. He wordlessly accepted his fate as the last thing he saw was a blinding spark.

***

April 1st, 2001.

JAL Airlines, Boeing 747 Jumbo Jet. Somewhere over the Pacific Ocean. 3:01 AM.

Mechanical marvels were always fascinating to Ranma, ever since he was introduced to the world of auto clubs and motor sports thanks to some friends he made in college.

This huge jet he was flying in was no exception. It was awe-inspiring to see a huge hunk of metal like this could fly so high and so far, while at the same time being as comfortable and hospitable as the finest limousines you could hire. Ranma snuggled comfortably in his nice khaki pants and handsome polo shirt and vest. He was pleased to find out that his seat reclined all the way back, although it was disappointing to know that the comfy and cushy leather seats absorbed the spine compressing thrust of the jet during takeoff.

A young and attractively cute stewardess pulled up next to Ranma with a cart full of various beverages and snacks.

"Would you like anything to drink, sir?" she politely asked.

A nice slug of sake would sure be nice to fall asleep to, Ranma thought. "I'll have some Onikoroshi, please."

"Certainly." The stewardess pulled out a bottle from a cooling compartment and handed it to Ranma along with a traditional square wooden sake cup. "May I get you anything else?"

"That'll be all, thank you." He slowly sipped the chilled sake, savoring the fine wine as it slithered down his throat, wishing he had some fine sashimi to accompany such a fine drink. Onikoroshi was an expensive drink, something he indulged in quite rarely because of its price. The alcohol took its effect almost immediately, easing off Ranma's mind into a more tranquil state.

He progressively drank some more, his visage softening and his mood relaxing. His mind seemed to crawl back to old memories, some which he preferred to forget. That didn't stop his brain from picking on some of those sore spots, however. Ranma slowly cycled into a flashback as his eyes closed, his mind falling asleep.

------------------

***

Flashback

June 28th, 1997.

Living Room, Tendo Home – Nerima, Japan.

The room was dead silent to those who were present. The wind could be heard quietly whistling against the wooden sliding doors. The light splish-splash of the fish in the koi pond reverberated ever so quietly among the three people who were standing in the room, facing each other.

Ranma barely had the strength to eek out the words past his tongue. "This can't be happening. Please tell me you're playing a cruel joke Akane," he whispered out.

Across from him was his fiancée of almost six years. The girl he had fallen in love with and pledged his life to. Right now his vision of heaven was turning into a tunnel of despair that led straight to hell.

"I'm not playing a joke on you, Ranma," she quietly replied, her eyes unable to meet his. Akane looked down on the floor, feeling guilt and remorse over the whole situation.

To her right was Ryoga, who looked just as grim as she did. "This isn't something that formed out of the blue, Ranma. You couldn't possibly understand right now," Ryoga said.

Ranma clenched his teeth and closed his eyelids, breathing in and out a couple of times, to deal with this catastrophic wave of emotions. One part wanted to just scream and lash out, the other part wanted to know why the hell this had happened.

Unfortunately, more of the former broke loose within him. "Damn it, Akane! How could you do this to me?!" he yelled. "Why?!"

Akane couldn't take it anymore either. The tears started streaming down her face. "I'm sorry, Ranma!" she said, guilt welling up in her. "I..I..." she stuttered.

"Why!? Why'd you betray me?!" Ranma yelled again, a cracked cacophony of despair in his voice. He almost had tears in his eyes himself. "I...I... I told you I loved you! I wanted to marry you! Why the hell did you bother telling me you love me?"

Not able to stand by doing nothing any longer, Ryoga stepped up to Ranma with one of his arms around Akane. He had a menacing look on his face, shadowed by composed and controlled patience. "She was lonely, Ranma. That's why she fell in love with me," he said. The tension was strong in his voice. "It was your fault you weren't there." His eyes narrowed at Ranma. "You were too busy in that gaijin college!"

Ranma stepped right into Ryoga's shadow, only a couple of centimeters away from his face. His eyes were only seeing red. "You bastard!" He poked Ryoga in the chest. "How could I help it?! I didn't have time to visit! That's why I worked my ass off to graduate in three years! Do you think that was easy? I suffered my first year, trying to get everything done as soon as possible! Does that mean nothing to you!?" he spat, although carefully leaving out the part where he used various methods of cheating to pass classes thanks to some clever friends. "What did I do to deserve this? Tell me?"

"I'm sure ditching your fiance to study abroad doesn't count, ne?" Ryoga scoffed.

He was quickly responded with a punch to his face but dodged it easily as Ryoga saw Ranma's furious aura flare out of control. In Ranma's current angry state, he was too unfocused to get a cheap shot at a veteran fighter like Ryoga.

Ryoga retaliated by shoving Ranma back, but he didn't attack him. Instead he pointed his finger at him and shouted. "It didn't happen overnight, Ranma! God damn it!" Ryoga yelled in frustration. "Stop acting like a girl and face it like a man! Akane is in love with me! With ME!!"

"No!! It can't be true!" Ranma said, frantically. He looked into Akane's eyes, his eyes bloodshot and his complexion yelling desperation. "You can't be serious, Akane!"

This time, Akane finally looked into his eyes. Ranma saw the deep sadness and melancholy there. "It's true," she quietly replied. "I still love you, Ranma. But only as a close friend, now." She looked over to Ryoga, and back at Ranma. "Like he said, this didn't happen overnight." Her face went through several pain stricken expressions. "Ryoga helped me out at some bad times, times where I wished you were next to me. Times where I wished you weren't overseas. He's been real supportive of me. I grew to love him. I love him very much right now. We're going to get married, though not anytime soon."

Ranma was grief stricken and his jaw hung open. He looked down at the ground. "No..."

"I'm sorry too, I didn't think things would end up this way," Ryoga said, as he was feeling genuinely remorseful at the complexity of the situation. His relationship with Akane didn't seem so regretful with Ranma out of the picture, three thousand miles away. But it had gone too far, over a year of trust and mutual companionship from Akane had sealed something far stronger than a short fling.

A look of deranged madness crossed Ranma's features. He took one look at Ryoga and turned his head towards the koi pond. With a nasty look on his face, he grabbed Ryoga before he could react and chucked his body into the pond as hard as he could. "I got you now, P chan," Ranma mumbled to himself.

"What was the point of that?" Akane asked, accusingly. Now she was mad.

"Wha-?" Ranma's jaw dropped in confusion as he saw Ryoga emerge from the pond, still completely human. His eyes were wide and bewildered.

Ryoga walked up to Ranma and spit some water into Ranma's face, transforming him. "If you're going to act like a girl, you might as well be one, RANKO!" A smile settled onto his face, showing that he'd won.

Unable to comprehend what had happened, a female Ranma continued to stand in place, looking on in shock. "What the hell happened?" she asked to anyone who was listening.

However, Ryoga and Akane didn't hear his question. Now it was their turn to gawk, however this time it was directed at Ranma's curse. What used to be a cute, peppy looking 5' 4" girl was now a gorgeous, 6 foot tall woman.

Akane's brain shifted out of neutral and into drive. "Ranma, why didn't you become smaller as a girl? You-you actually grew taller!" She looked at the aquatranssexual up and down."

Ranma frowned at that comment. It was true, she did look a dramatically different from what she used to look like three years ago. She had much more prominent curves in the right places, a more seductive and sexy body, and beauty that would shame even Ms. Hinako. Her current female body was only a little bit taller than her male form, albeit of course with a smaller and feminine frame.

She wiped her face of the excess water, her eyes still trembling with anger. "Over the past couple of years I realized that my cursed form was still growing, although my male form had matured completely long ago," Ranma said. This seemed to give Akane and Ryoga a bit more understanding.

"Apparently my other side had naturally grown into a much more adult body. I actually called Cologne once to ask about it and she surprised me when she told me that what my cursed form was doing was only natural, however it will remain young and adult for the rest of my life."

In that moment the two bumbling fathers of the home, Soun and Genma, entered tumbling into the room. They were both red with anger and shock. It seemed Nabiki had just informed them of the love triangle. Ranma's ears passed off the ensuing chaos as a numb drone. His mind couldn't quite grasp the mess that he'd gotten into this time.

End Flashback

***

-----------------

That wasn't too pleasant, he thought idly. It had been years since the breakup happened, and he got on with his life. But every now and then the very thought of Akane sucking Ryoga's dick really hurt his head.

"Damn that Ryoga," Ranma mumbled to himself, his eyes drooping from fatigue. He turned his eyes towards an LCD screen that was attached to his seat, a special novelty that First-Class fliers were able to use. The onboard flight info on the screen showed that there was still approximately three and a half hours left in the flight.

"I wonder what people will think when they see how different I've become," he idly thought, before his mind drifted to sleep.

----------------

***

Flashback

July 20th, 1997.

Saotome Home – Nerima, Japan.

"Thanks anyway, I appreciate the offer, but I'd really like to be a sensei instead," Ranma spoke to the hand piece. He hung up the phone on the receiver and breathed a large sigh.

After an entire week of pining over Akane and venting off an endless supply of frustration, Ranma started looking for jobs around the Nerima area as a dojo sensei. But he was out of luck. No one seemed to need an extra hand, either that or they couldn't afford one.

He scratched the back of his head, thinking about the details of the past week. He found out that Ryoga had taken a trip to Jusenkyo and brought back bottles of Nannichaun for himself and the other cursed Nerima citizens. Shampoo, Mousse, and even pops, were now all 100% human. This was actually quite a shock to him, he'd never really figured that re-cursing himself with the spring of drowned man would actually work. It certainly didn't work for Pantyhose Taro, who had cursed himself multiple times to become the freak that he was.

What made things awkward was that Ryoga had even offered a bottle of the stuff to Ranma, even after what happened. Ranma had refused immediately, not wanting anything more to do with him. To say that he was peeved would have been a gross understatement, he was kicked out of the house forcefully after he had gone berserk again and spit in Akane and Ryoga's faces. His female form was considerably weaker and smaller in body mass to his male form, allowing Ryoga to restrain him with his own incredible strength and tossed him He'd gotten used to the curse anyway, and the thought of becoming fully male wasn't even on his mind at that moment. He was much too hurt and blinded to see that Ryoga had actually been genuinely sincere enough to make amends despite what had occurred, but for now Ranma had to get away.

There was also another thing that sort of frustrated him, although it bothered him to think this way. He hadn't gotten any since he'd left Nerima over three years ago. Since then he had stayed true to Akane and stayed abstinent the whole time, which was an incredibly remarkable feat. And it wasn't like he could just run over to his friend Ucchan or even Shampoo either for a quick lay, he respected them more than that.

"Oh, man," Ranma sighed. He looked down at a phone number that was written on a small business card in his hand. It wasn't a local number, but a long distance one. VERY long distance. He pondered for a second whether this would be the right choice to make.

After switching glances from the card in his hand and the telephone, he made up his mind. Nerima had nothing left for him anymore. "Alright. Beggars can't be choosers, I might as well take a chance at the unknown."

Ranma picked up the phone to make an international call to Los Angeles.

-----------

Genma was lying on his side, watching some sort of wacky cooking show on the big screen TV he'd acquired from a pawn shop. He had some various snacks in front of him and several cans of beer, all empty.

Despite how lazy he was and how useless he used to be, Genma had found a fitting job that made plenty of money to support himself and his wife. What made the job bearable was that it suited the things he was best at. He'd actually set himself a reputation for being a top notch repo-man for banks and small time creditors, getting paid to steal back items from people's homes and cars from right under their noses. Genma found out that he was especially good at boosting cars, but what he did wasn't illegal, it was repossession of assets in which the owners were unable to pay for. Suffice to say, Genma liked it, and so did his employers.

Currently, he eyed his son walking into the living room to where Nodoka was sitting on the couch, reading a novel.

"Boy, you make your father shameful. You can't find a job as a sensei let alone keep a fiancée. Aren't you ashamed of him, Nodoka?" Genma mocked,

"Shut up old man," Ranma replied. He kicked his pops in the ribs as he passed him by, knocking the air out of him. It wasn't anything overly rough, just a quick jab made out of annoyance. Ranma was incredibly surprised to learn his father was now an honest working man now, and better yet making a respectable amount of money to take care of his mother and live a relatively comfortable life that she dearly deserved. It comforted him greatly that he now had a father he could be proud of and he could respect.

"Don't mind him son," Nodoka said, her nose still planted in the paperback she was reading. She set it down on her lap and faced her only son. "What's on your mind?"

Ranma fiddled with his fingers behind his back, and eyes sort of wandered, hesitating at what he wanted to say. "Mom, I want to be a police officer," he said, trying to sound as serious as possible.

This took the elder Saotome matriarch by surprise; this was totally out of the ordinary. "A police officer?" she replied. "Tokyo Police?"

How was he going to explain himself out of this one, Ranma wondered? He scratched his head and breathed a sigh.

"No, no. Let me explain." Ranma pulled up a stool that was in the corner of the room and sat down facing his mother.

Genma turned his head away from the TV, he too was also surprised at Ranma, and faced mother and son to hear the conversation.

"When I was going to college over in UCLA I studied Physical Education as a major, but I was also quite interested with Criminal Law. It was interesting to learn, and I actually liked it," Ranma said. His face scrunched slightly at what he was about to say next, but it was for a good purpose. "Remember how I got Nabiki to forge some documents so that I could pretend to be a US citizen to qualify for the ROTC scholarship? I did it so that you guys didn't have to pay for my education, since it gave a lot of benefits."

"That was thoughtful of you," Nodoka said, smiling.

Ranma continued. "Right after I graduated, I deferred from going into full military service and turned to just a reserve officer, although they'll never be able to track my records down to draft me, thanks to Nabiki." He pulled out an envelope from his pocket. "Funny thing is, the Los Angeles Police department sent me a recruiting letter asking if I was interested in becoming a cop. I don't know why they sent me a letter, but I guess it was because I was registered as an Army reservist, or something. I don't know the real reason for sure." Nor did he care.

"Of course, I didn't reply back until today," Ranma went on. Next week I'm heading to Elysian Park, Los Angeles to start training in their Academy."*

This didn't go by too well with Genma. "Shame on you, boy!" he scowled. "Turning back on martial arts?! How is it an idiot like you can get accepted that easily into a police academy?"

He flinched back as Ranma glared daggers at him for the remark. "For your information, I worked my butt off and I was very well educated in college. I did a lot of things in my spare time to become a better person." Ranma started shouting. "And I didn't turn my back on martial arts! I was the president of the martial arts club in college, even though I wasn't experienced as an administrator! I practiced everyday! I can beat you now without even trying! I might be able to take on Happosai, maybe!" He left out the part where he'd also spent lots of his spare time with friends, having fun and partying, and oddly enough, getting into the world of motorsports. Cars and bikes were really addicting to work on, he'd learned.

"You're good, I'll give you that one. And you do train as hard as you've always have," Genma commented, his stature turning more serious. "But you're still young. And you're still a bit arrogant. You know better than that Ranma. You really think just PRACTICING alone makes you better? From what I've seen you've barely done any serious street fighting. And that dulls anyone's edge."

His father's small but rare bit of advice sunk into his head, a part of himself knew that his father was right.

Nodoka tapped the hilt of her katana on the top of Genma's head, making him nervous. "You should be proud of your son, Genma." She placed the katana behind her once Genma started sulking. She turned to face her son again. "We're both very proud of you Ranma. Being a police officer is a very noble job. It's comes at a bit of a surprise, yes. But you're an adult now. And part of being a man is learning how things are by yourself."

For a second there Ranma wondered how his mother knew of something like that. He only had a vague idea himself. "Arigato-gozaimasu, Okaasan."

"You must still swear that you will still carry on the family art and practice to perfect it so that you may carry it on, Ranma," his mother said.

Ranma scoffed at that. "Of course." Fighting was still his life. There was no way he'd go soft with that.

She tsked to herself and got up to make some tea for the three of them to drink. "I really am proud of you, son. It's a shame about Akane, such a nice girl. I'm sorry about what happened, but it really isn't your fault. As honor bound as I may be, I understand what happened. Love is a very fickle thing. It's unfair for you, but it's also unfair for Akane-chan to marry someone she doesn't love either."

Nodoka knew that lashing out at the Tendo family was going to cause unnecessary turmoil that would later turn to regret. She sighed inwardly, some people, her own son included, still saw her as the somewhat stone cold honor bound woman that Genma had first described of her. But that was ridiculous. What was she going to do, use her sword to eradicate the whole Tendo family?

The 21 year old was slightly crestfallen. "Yeah..."

Genma's lips thinned at the emotional scene. "Stop pampering the kid."

The lazy father was greeted by two angry faces in front of him, with glares to match. "Shut up!/Quiet!" mother and son simultaneously yelled.

"I'm going to be leaving in a couple of days, mom. I don't want to cause another havoc by leaving Japan again. Can you tell everyone else about where I'm going for me? I don't want to deal with a bunch of complications."

For now all he had to worry about was producing the proper documents to get back into the US to be properly registered and inducted into his upcoming career. Luckily a few counterfeit ID's that he'd kept for use in college would come in handy.

Nodoka nodded. "Of course, son."

"Thanks, mum."

End Flashback

***

-----------------

Fate had taken quite an interesting twist on his life. It was fate that had decided to take Akane away from him, and have him venture into a career and lifestyle that he never would have anticipated. And it was now fate that was taking him back to Japan to make amends with his ghosts and start over.

But that was just a mildly comforting excuse. Ranma knew better than to blame his path on an unwritten fate. He reminded himself that he also had plenty of ghosts he was leaving behind in America as well, too many in fact. He'd been subjected to enough bullshit in his life, consciously he knew that returning to Japan would be a welcome change to his life, his subconscious knew that if he didn't he'd eventually blow a fuse.

Right now he would sleep, there were only a few hours left in the flight anyway. His mind drifted to an earlier memory, one that had thoroughly changed the very core of his being. It was inevitable, he had accepted, long before the incident had even occurred. A lifetime of work was bound to bring it on.

-----------------

***

Flashback

March 22nd, 1998.

Oakland and Highland Ave. Hollywood Division, Los Angeles. 3:15 PM.

"You know, one of these days I swear I'm gonna try for a lunch break that's longer than five minutes."

"No problem, pup. I'm not stopping you. If you can find a way to shut the radio up, be my guest."

A marked black and white LAPD Ford Crown Victoria coasted to a stop behind the crosswalk. This particular cruiser was a newly cycled car for the department, marked as unit 642 on the roof in bold black lettering, a lucky and random privilege given to the officers who were assigned to it. The paint was still shiny and crisp under the bright sunlight, despite the smoggy filter that consumed everything in the Los Angeles atmosphere. Sure, the street was fairly empty and traffic had been unusually light for this time of day and place in Hollywood, and the red traffic didn't really mean much to the two officers occupying the police cruiser. They could've coasted right along, and no one would dare say a thing to such an action.

However, Ranma decided as he sat in the driver's seat of the Crown Vic, there wasn't really a need to rush things, especially when getting into a rush was something you did all day long. Getting a few minutes of peace at a red light every intersection or so was a welcome rest, one that he wouldn't take for granted.

He glanced over at his partner, who was sipping soda from a fast-food cup. Really friendly guy, Ranma had learned in the beginning of their partnership, even if he was extremely thorough and uptight with rules and regulations. He was a S2 rank patrol officer, very typical in his appearance for a cop, short buzzed and neatly kempt hair for practicality, a bulky upper body that hinted at his strength, and a uniform that looked as if it had been pressed clean and arranged neatly at all times. He wasn't an educated man, but he knew the street beat and was a capable officer to handle the civilian masses.

"I bet some of my classmates from the Academy* are living it off easy with their requested posts," Ranma said. He chuckled. "I guess it's my fault for choosing the busiest division in the city?"

*Los Angeles Police Academy in Elysian Park.

Sergeant Dick Stensland nodded his head. "Yeah, you did. We gotta meet our quota of suckers to reel in too, you know?"

Both officers laughed to that. In the background were chirps and crackles of the police-band radio, from incoming and outgoing transmissions in the West Bureau.

"Dispatch, this is 6-Mary-34. I have a silver Cadillac sedan, late model, speeding recklessly southbound on La Brea, passing Sunset. My bike is stuck in gridlock and I can't maneuver around."

"10-4, unit 6-Mary-34. Maintain vis..."

Stensland ignored the dialogue from the radio, it was probably just another punk going on a joyride, even if it was a Cadillac. The motorcycle cops were more suited to handling the duty of a traffic maid.

"Nice to know the traffic rush hour is back in swing. We're pretty close by, we can help out," Ranma said, much to the dismay of his partner. Stensland was rolling his eyes.

"You make the call, kid."

Ranma picked up the receiver phone piece and clicked on the transmit button. "This is 6-Adam-42, we'll tail that Cadillac. Code 2."

A series of chirps accompanied his message. "Acknowledged, unit 6-Adam-42. Code 1."

With a nod from his partner, Ranma took a right at the next street and his foot mashed the gas pedal. This was a routine call, so the sirens and lights were left off. Ranma took a half eaten burrito that had been sitting on his lap and ate it with his free right hand, using his left to steer the car. His partner had already finished his food since he didn't have to bother with driving and keeping his hands occupied with the controls. At most all he had to do was answer the radio.

"I've got an excuse at least to stay occupied with a simple task instead of driving around in a craze to respond to some incident," Ranma mumbled with the stuffed tortilla in his mouth.

The radio blared with a sharp bleep. "West Traffic, this is Valley Bureau, that late model Cadillac was involved in a 211 at a jewelry store, we were sidetracked and now they're in your area, be advised!"

Stensland sighed and picked up the radio, as Ranma nearly choked on his food and continued to scarf it down. "Acknowledged, code 3."

"I didn't expect that to happen," Ranma said. He drank and finished a bottle of water that he had opened earlier. He turned on the sirens and lights.

The radio chirped again. "West Traffic, this is 15-Lincoln-52 entering Hollywood division, intercepting to assist. There is an unknown number of gang members in that Cadillac, they are definitely armed and extremely dangerous. I'm heading southbound on Formosa."

Ranma took a left and then took a sharp right, drifting across the lanes. "15-Lincoln-52, this is 6-Adam-42, I'm heading northbound on La Brea."

"I'm now going eastbound on Melrose, meet you at the intersection."

Surely enough, Ranma saw what appeared to be a growing commotion way in front of him, he saw a car driving recklessly on the sidewalk, barely missing pedestrians.

"There he is," Ranma said. He pointed out with his finger. "The guy is trying to get through the gridlock on the wrong side of the road!"

"It looks like these pricks are on the run, let's step on it!" Stensland said.

"Unit 6-Adam-14 coming in to assist, we're heading southbound on Mansfield, approaching Waring Avenue!" the radio blipped again.

The car being pursued popped back into the paved street and raced down south on La Brea, about 200 yards away from Ranma's car. From here Ranma could see exactly what car he was chasing, a dingy grey 80's Cadillac Deville, with multispoke wire hubcaps that flew off and rolled on their own as the tires landed on the asphalt from jumping off of the sidewalk curb.

The driver of the Caddy saw the flashing red and blue lights in front of him, and made a dangerous left swerve to go east on Melrose, miraculously missing hitting any of the other cars in the intersection.

Unfortunately, this led to the Cadillac being tailed by another police car responding from North Hollywood, unit 15-Lincoln-52.

Incoming traffic from all sides of the intersection halted as drivers saw that there was something serious going on, which gave the officers in pursuit a chance to maneuver around and chase the Cadillac.

Stensland pressed a button under the dash, and a mechanical click unlocked the shotgun rack next to his shoulder. "There's our North Hollywood guy," he said.

Ranma steered the car right to tail the other officer onto Melrose Avenue, and a few seconds later the third police car popped into view, causing the Cadillac to take another right turn into an empty street, popping a tire in the process. It seemed the turn was taken too fast, and the friction on the tires coupled with the resistance from the suspension caused a blowout. The grey car fishtailed out of control and slammed on its side on a light pole, and stayed in place.

All three police cars strategically blocked off the road into a cul-de-sac, with Ranma's car in the middle, placed perpendicular to the street.

The single sergeant from North Hollywood got out of his car first and ran towards the Cadillac, his gun drawn.

Ranma was moving his arm to shift the car's column transmission into park, and right as he looked out the window to his right, his breath stopped.

It happened in a blink of an eye. Sergeant Jack Vincennes never saw it coming. "Get your hands up, LAPD!" he had yelled, and just as his lips finished moving, the dark, limo-tinted windows of the Cadillac blew out in shards and all he saw were two bright flashes of fire aimed at him.

One second, Vincennes was standing in front of the doors with his pistol in his hands, the next second there was a squirt of red that seemed to unexpectedly explode out the back of his head and his body flopped to the floor lifelessly in an awkward angle. Dead before he even hit the ground, Vincennes dropped like a brick.

Panic struck Ranma, and Stensland was first to react. "Jesus Christ!"

The two didn't even get a chance to reach for the radio to call for help. 5 hooded and armed gangsters got out of the car, all of them wielding cheap and illegal, street bought, 9mm submachine guns. Two men raised their weapons, aimed at Ranma's car, one with his Tec-9 and another with an Ingram MAC-10, and sprayed a burst of fire through the windshield.

"Get down!" Stensland yelled, as he and Ranma struggled to get out the driver's side door.

The two weren't faster than the bullets; however, as several rounds struck both of them as they pierced through the glass. Ranma yelped out loud in pain as three shots hit him in the center of his chest, pounding his rib cage thoroughly as the Kevlar vest he wore elastically stretched at the violent impact.

Ranma tumbled out of the car and landed on his shoulder, amidst broken glass from the door windows. He immediately regained his composure, and leaned against the front fender of his car, the safest area since there was the engine block for cover.

"You got the shotgun Stens!?" Ranma yelled out for his partner amidst the chaos. He could hear panicked swearing coming from around the corner, the third patrol car that had responded was currently under fire and Ranma had no idea if they were hit too. His mind was in too much of a flurry to notice that his partner wasn't answering him.

He yelled for him again, in confusion. "Where the hell are you Stens!?" he yelled, and he crawled backwards on his hands and knees, facing the car. He took one look at the driver's seat of his car, and his jaw fell.

All other noises seemed to mute as he stared forward, he could feel his heart thumping in his chest and reverberating all the way in his skull. His partner was lying on his left shoulder, motionless. There was a trail of blood on his right arm, tracing back to the side of his ribs.

It was then, Ranma understood just what in the hell had happened. His partner was shot in a small, unprotected area of his torso, where the front and back of his protective vest velcro-ed together.

Wordlessly, with his jaw still hanging open in shock, Ranma scrambled to yank his partner out of the car, grabbing a fistful of his shirt and nearly dragging it off of his head. Stensland wasn't a small guy, his bulk was difficult to move around.

"Fucking cops!" the voice of one of the gangsters bellowed, as he kept shooting at Ranma's temporary barricade.

"Hang on, Stens, hold on buddy," Ranma pleaded to his partner, who was still motionless but was at least grunting out loudly, signaling that he was alive. Ranma flipped him so that his back would lean against him, and this way he got a closer look at Stensland's wound.

The moist blotch of blood that was tinting his already dark blue uniform was rapidly spreading across his side. Ranma could already tell that the bullets must have hit a vital organ to knock him out incapacitated and possibly fatally, and either way he would be bleeding to death real soon. He did his best by placing pressure on the multiple high velocity puncture wounds on his side, but it did little to delay the bleeding.

Ranma looked over his shoulder to see that the other two officers were currently mercilessly under fire, they were clumsily ducking and shooting in the heat of the moment, their pistols were no match against the combined firepower of five automatic weapons. Ranma gasped as he saw the two officers go down, their upper torsos were hit by a melee spray of fire by one of the gangsters, hitting them both in the collars and nicking one in the neck.

He was all alone now.

With a shaky hand, drenched in his partner's blood, Ranma reached for his radio mike on his shoulder, and clicked the transmit button. "Officers down, officers down! This is 6-Adam-42, on the eastern section of Mansfield and Clinton!" His voice was raggedy and strained. "I need backup RIGHT NOW! Backup goddamnit! SOMEBODY HELP ME!" he screamed, his lips quivering and eyes bloodshot with nervous tears.

Right after he had finished sending his cry for help, Ranma could've sworn he heard at least three different sirens pop up and echo throughout the streets, and even the shrieking wail of a fire truck. His mind was jolted back to the reality of the moment as the gunfire continued to erupt, this time it would be focused all on him.

The Motorola radio that was attached to his Sam Browne* chirped, "All units, all units, we have an officer down on Clinton and Mansfield Ave, tactical command has been alerted. 10-David is en-route." The dispatcher's voice was disturbingly calm and sterile, devoid of emotion under the circumstances.

"Die, you fucking pigs!"

Another burst of 9mm ammo pounded against Ranma's bullet riddled patrol car. The door panels of all the recently issued patrol cars were lined with armor, however with the amount of shooting that was happening the door wasn't going to last much longer. Ranma could feel the door popping on his back and pushing him as the bullets impacted against the armor plates.

He picked at his radio again. "Damn it dispatch, where the fuck is my backup!?"

"Officers are on the way, ETA less than two minutes."

Ranma cursed the shitty Los Angeles rush hour gridlock. "I won't be here in another two minutes!" he screamed, bitter rage building in his eyes. This was bullshit! He could hear sirens within earshot, and still it would take precious time that he didn't have for help to come. "Tell them to get here fas-"

Six bullets weakly penetrated through the shredded door, and hit him in the back before he could finish his sentence. The surprise shock felt electrifying up the nerves of his spine, and caused him to yelp out in a painful shriek of agony, which the gangsters took as a death rattle.

Several whoops and shouts of cheering could be heard behind Ranma's back. "I think we got 'em!" Being the criminal idiots that they were, their victory cry included emptying their weapons into the air.

This opening was not missed by Ranma. He set his partner's body on the ground, his trained reflex and instincts to survive finally kicked in and he crouched behind the hood of the car with his pistol extended hand in hand. His eyes were blank, focusing only on the combat pyramid of the three white dots that were fixed on the top of his pistol. His stance was picture perfect, a result from hours of training a competition-style shooting stance, just for this certain circumstance.

He shot out five rounds quick and crisp with the trigger, aiming at his enemy with surgical precision and lightning quick acquisition. It looked almost like dominoes falling down in sequence from right to left, a round in the central area of their faces. The whole cycle was so quick the last guy to be put down was barely able to get his gun pointed in the general direction of Ranma again, only to have the connection between his brain and spine be severed from a piercing bullet.

A downed officer several yards away saw the whole scene take place while he was barely conscious, struggling to stay alive. "Holy shit...how'd he do that?" his voice rasped.

Ranma stood up, his eyes were now a bit watery and he still had his pistol aimed at a group of dead bodies. He strengthened his grip on his pistol because it felt slippery with the blood of his partner drenched on his hands. Slowly and carefully he walked around and approached the downed gunmen, his feet stepping in several new trails of blood that were seeping from their perforated skulls.

"Y-y-you're under a-arrest!" Ranma yelled, although he was speaking to a corpse.

No reply came to him, and Ranma calmly holstered his pistol and stepped backwards until he was up against his battered car. He slid down and sat on the hood, the sound of sirens slowly flooding his ears as other units arrived at the scene.

-----------------

"Relax, you're going to survive nearly being shot to death only to die from a heart-attack if you don't calm down."

That was easier said than done, Ranma thought to himself. The paramedic checked him over one last time with a stethoscope and a small flashlight before he patted him on the shoulder.

"That'll do it. Other than a couple of bruises on your back and chest, you're perfectly fine. Your adrenaline is probably still pumping so your pain sensors are all blocked out, you might find out if you have bruised or broken ribs later when things are normal," the medic advised him.

Ranma just sat on the curb, looking out in front of him. They were already bagging up Sergeant Vincennes' corpse, along with Ranma's partner. The other two officers had survived apparently, although with serious injuries. But the initial outlook was good, and the paramedics on site had deemed that they shouldn't be life threatening. They were both quickly rushed to Cedar Sinai Medical, not the closest but the finest hospital in the region.

There must have been at least 20 officers surrounding the area right now, with several dozen more to come soon. All news trucks and reporters were aggressively pushed away from the scene, and with the grief of two officers deceased hanging on the minds of every officer in sight, they meant business.

The medic cleaned off the last of the blood that was stained on Ranma's hands, the blood of his late partner.

"It's amazing what you did here, buddy," the paramedic said. "It's a miracle you survived." He pointed to a shredded armor vest that Ranma had taken off minutes ago. "That thing saved your life."

Ranma tried hard to ignore his words, right now he was feeling more miserable than he had ever felt in his life. "I was all wrong for this job, I'm not cut out for it." His lips started quivering and his eyes went runny. "I-I-I killed those guys back there."

A sympathetic hand pat his shoulder. "They got what was coming to them," the medic said, nodding his head slowly.

Ranma buried his face in his hands to cover the miserable look on his face. "But I'm a killer now! Jesus Christ, look what I've done!"

The paramedic looked stern, and he smacked his hand against Ranma's face lightly. "Hey, listen to me." He grabbed Ranma's chin with his hand to get his complete attention, and looked him straight in the eye. "You're a hero, not a cold-blooded killer like these fucking assholes. Two officers kept their lives because of you. What you did was hand out justice."

"And what about my partner, huh?" Ranma wiped away the medic's hand away. He had been the driver; it was he who had parked the car in a way that made his partner vulnerable.

"You can't blame yourself for that, you didn't kill him. He was a police officer too, he knew what he was getting himself into. That's what being a cop is all about. It means laying down your life to protect and serve. You did your job, he did his."

"......"

"Don't worry," the medic responded in a softer voice "This happens to all cops and their first homicide. When you get back to the station you're going to be assigned a police psychologist to help you out with the trauma, and be given a standard two week leave of paid absence. But just remember, no matter what happens... none of this is your fault. You did something truly brave and noble today."

His words proved comforting and Ranma felt a little relaxed. "Thank you, sir."

"Good then!" he exclaimed with a smile. "You're all patched up now, and I'm gonna go help some others now."

The paramedic packed up his kit and walked away, looking back and giving him one last nod. Ranma weakly acknowledge him with a nod of his own. Another man was walking his way, wearing a heavy uniform with tactical gear. The pouches on his chest were packed with flash grenades and several other tools. There was a sling on his shoulder attached to a short, carbine rifle of the AR variety. He simply stood in front of Ranma, and gave him an uncomfortable thousand-yard stare.

"Who are you?" Ranma asked.

"I'm Lieutenant Stevens." He stuck out his hand to shake Ranma's. "I'm from the Metropolitan Division." The senior officer extended a hand to shake and help Ranma off the curb.

"Nice to meet you," Ranma said, standing up and grabbing hold. He noticed an eagle patch with a large insignia on Stevens' sleeve. "You're from SWAT?"*

*SWAT stands for 'Special Weapons And Tactics', in case you don't know.

"Yep. I'm the commanding officer. Had to come over and check you out son, you're quite the buzz right now."

"What do you want from me, sir?" Ranma wasn't too eager to speak with anymore people.

"I was looking over the short statement you gave, and I find it impossible to believe. Did you really shoot five guys in the head, in that short time, all by yourself?"

This didn't sound good, in Ranma's current boggled and panic ridden state of mind the only thing cycling through his head was the remorse of pulling the trigger and now the fear of a possible unfavorable shooting board judgement. "Yeah, I did. Is there something wrong, sir?" he replied, fear creeping into his voice.

Stevens shook his head in awe. "Amazing. And from the looks of things, I can't say that you're lying either. Are you a crack shot?"

Ranma nodded, curious as to see where this was going. He didn't want to hear anymore of guns and shooting at the moment, and this guy was poking right at the flesh of the wound. "Yes, sir. I graduated at the top of my class in the academy."

"That still doesn't explain how you can be so skilled. Tell you what. Come to Parker Center tomorrow at 2 in the afternoon, so we can talk some more. I'll have the lobby know that you have an appointment, so just report to the Special Ops and Tactics Bureau."

"What? I'm not even sure they'll let me back to work for the next few weeks, can I even do that?"

Stevens smirked. "It's mandatory." He walked away, but turned around for a moment. "By the way, this doesn't mean you're being recruited for SWAT. You remember that."

Arrogant, assumptive, asshole, Ranma thought disgustedly. I've got enough to remember today already, goddamn it. He looked around in the war zone in front of him. It was too much for him, still. He grit his teeth and closed his eyes, and opened them again.

In front of him he saw a revelation, a sight that struck him out of his misery, even if it was only for a moment. There was a flock of schoolchildren being escorted away by several paramedics and police officers, including a teacher who was on a stretcher. It looked like she was hit in the leg from a stray bullet, obviously from the direction of the gangsters because they had been stranded on a street that was behind Ranma at the time of the shooting.

This entire time, he had been thinking of signing a resignation form as soon as he got home, so that he could quit this job. Now, with what he saw in front him, it didn't seem so bad. He had saved a class of children and a teacher who had just happened to be walking down the street for a class project.

He looked over at the side of a police car that was parked nearby. The white letters that were painted on the black panel seemed to demand his attention, drawing his eyes towards it.

"To protect, and serve", he read. "Just like a martial artist." Maybe this wasn't so bad after all. Perhaps this was a sign, that his duty as a martial artist wasn't being forsaken, but instead being used in a different way.

A young cop who was done helping out a detective with chalking up the bodies ran up to Ranma, excited beyond words. "Dude! You just wasted five people just like that!" He snapped his finger for effect. "That's totally KILLER! You're a hell of a good fucking shot!"

Ranma's brain fell back to reality. "Oh my god," his voice shook. "I'm a killer..." The burrito he had wolfed down earlier wasn't feeling so good down in his stomach. He turned around and vomited on the sidewalk.

"Whoa, I didn't mean to say you were a killer," the young officer said nervously. "Man, that stinks."

Ranma spit a few times, and stepped away. His face looked almost translucent from a pale loss of color. "I gotta get outta here."

-----------------

Two Years Later...

Detectives Bureau – Rampart Division, Los Angeles. 1:22 AM.

A drenched Ranma-chan walked into the room, soaking wet from head to toe. It had been quite an unpleasant evening, the pouring rain being the least of his/her problems, and there would be hell to pay tomorrow.

Ranma sat down at one of the many desks inside the large detectives' room, her own actually. She was the only one in the room; all the other detectives were out responding to cases of their own. Her left hand was still stained with blood from a bust that had gone wrong less than an hour ago. She and her partner were assisting a couple of vice detectives in taking down a small group of pimps that were exploiting teenagers in a prostitution ring. The suspects were reluctant to give in, VERY reluctant, in fact. The end result was a bloody melee of bullets.

For now she was authorized to go home for the night and take the paperwork with her. Ranma cursed to herself over the hassle, by next week she'd be going under the department's shooting board for review for the umpteenth time now. She jotted down some important info on a notepad to take home with her, before she'd forget it later.

The phone on her desk rang, and she picked it up. "This is Sergeant Saotome, Rampart robbery-homicide." She struggled to keep the earphone in place while she continued to write things down.

"Hello, detective. How are you?"

She blew out a breath in frustration. "Listen, buddy. I'm really busy right now, so if you've got something important say it."

A chuckle could be heard on the other line. "Just the kind of spunk I expected. I'm Captain Davis, from Metro."

Aw, crap. She chose the wrong person to be rude to. "Heh, heh, sorry about that sir. I was filing a report on four dead suspects, I was a little busy."

"Yeah, I heard that over the tactical broadcast. Are they suspects you killed?"

"One of them, yes," she said nervously.

"You are a very interesting officer, Saotome. I've read the case file on you. Three years on the job and you've made nearly 150 busts. A high number of legitimate kills, marksmanship status given by SWAT, advanced martial arts, and you were made Sergeant after only 3 fuckin' years? I'm impressed. Not to mention your Jusenkyo curse, too."

Eyes narrowed, she was curious now and apprehensive. "What do you want?"

"I head a unit in the Investigations Bureau called the Special Investigative Section. We are a group dedicated to bringing down hardened criminals that regular cops can't handle. We're composed of only a few officers, but they're all one in a million. Sergeant, I'm giving you the opportunity, to do more than you ever could as a homicide detective. As an SIS detective, you can save the lives of more people than you ever can as a regular cop. With it comes the prestige of being part of the best. Although they won't admit it, we are above SWAT in operational priority. Bottom line, we kill bad guys so they won't be back for more."

"I know what you guys are," she replied, narrowing her eyes suspiciously. "You're pretty infamous for being a death squad, killing criminals on purpose instead of arresting them."

"If that's what you want to call it, yes." Unnerved by Ranma's response, Davis continued, "The best part of it is that there's not as much paperwork."

"Give me one reason why I should join," she said, unimpressed.

"Let me ask you something. There are a lot of fuckers out there who rob banks, steal, or kill on the street, and they're smart enough to not get caught so they can do it all over again. Or how about those nuts who prowl at night to rape women? Kill kids for joy? Murder for fun? What is that, hmm? I know, just by looking at your file that you are a MAN of justice, helping the innocent and laying your life down for them. To protect and serve. That's what we do. We protect the innocent by doing the dirty jobs that the public demands but are too cowardly to admit it."

Ranma sighed. She already knew he wasn't going to take this job, but she felt the least he could do was meet this captain face to face and acknowledge him properly. "Alright, I'll give it a thought. How about we talk about this, face to face? Tomorrow maybe?"

"Sure."

"Where at?"

"Elysian Park. Near the target shooting range, 4 PM."

"I'll see you then." Ranma hung up the phone.

A female voice shouted from outside the door. "Stop lagging and come downstairs, Ranma! We don't have all fucking day!"

"Yeah, yeah, I'm comin'!" Ranma replied. She looked at her blood stained red hand, and concentrated on it for a few seconds. She made a fist and a dark blue ball of light seemed to glow around it, a manifestation of her ki. She reopened her hand again and brushed off the now dried and crusted blood, which came off easily and flaked on the floor. As the ambient glow dissipated slowly it made it look as if her hand was purified and cleansed magically.

She took a few seconds to gather up a pile of forms and her notepad and placed it in a manila folder, and walked out.

End Flashback

-----------------

***

April 2nd, 2001.

Narita International Airport – Tokyo, Japan. 6:30 AM.

Ranma walked outside of the terminal and took a deep breath, only to end up coughing. At least the smog that polluted Tokyo (the same way it polluted LA) was better than the stale, re-circulated air of an airplane. He strolled along with a single suitcase in his possession and looked around. There were a couple of American SUV's, old, early 90's Chevy Suburbans with red and blue police lights attached to the top, parked alongside the loading dock of the street. He idly wondered if they were there for him.

"Damn, this place is crowded," Ranma yawned. He stretched his arms and twirled them a couple of times to get his blood flowing into his tired body.

An older Japanese man in an expensive, dark grey suit walked towards Ranma to greet him. He bowed to him first, and then reached out his hand for a shake. "Ohayou, Saotome-san."

Ranma bowed back, and shook the man's hand. "Ohayou."

"We've been expecting you, please come with me in the RV*," he said in Japanese.

*I believe the Japanese refer SUVs (Sport Utility Vehicles) as RVs, recreational vehicle.

"Thanks," Ranma replied. He looked over the old man, he seemed friendly enough. His hair was slightly gray and he was only a few centimeters shorter than himself, but for a guy his age he looked surprisingly strong and well built, Ranma noticed. He looked to be in his mid fifties or so.

"I'm Commander Takayama. I'm very pleased to meet you."

"Thank you, Takayama-san. Please, call me Ranma."

"It's great to finally meet you, Ranma," he said, smiling. "We're heading to our main building in downtown Tokyo. We just have to take care of a little paperwork, get you registered and outfitted for duty. Did you enjoy the flight here Ranma?"

"Yes, I did," Ranma said, appreciating the great service.

"We're really excited to have you with us," Takayama said. "It is very rare for us to find Japanese agents of your caliber. Our division is referred to as MaxFor, for Maximum Enforcement. But we prefer that you refer to yourself as an NSA officer."

"Of course, no problem," he replied. "I just got one question though. Why are we riding in these big American trucks in Japan? I'd assume you guys would get something smaller."

Takayama nodded. "To give you an idea on Japanese government and politics, a lot of the powerful branches we have are looked over by the American government. I'm sure I don't have to explain to you some basic history as to why they might have this authority, right?"

Ranma shook his head. "Nope, please continue."

"Anyway, the building we're heading to was newly built just last year. Our old headquarters was given to the JDA, the Japanese Defense Agency, which is actually only a few minutes away. The JDA is primarily involved in domestic matters and mostly with military administration and are left alone as an independent agency, but since the NSA deals with intelligence, everything we deal with is overlooked by the CIA."

"You're kidding?" Ranma said, greatly surprised.

"I'm not. You have to understand, this country was rebuilt with America as a powerful benefactor. They infused their own protocols into our government as watchdogs. They actually have a couple of floors that are solely occupied by CIA operatives, and naturally the floors right above them belongs to our own intelligence bureau. They used to work out of the US Embassy, but they needed more space and took a couple of floors above our own, actually. They're setting themselves up bigger here because North Korea is close by, and the potential for acquiring even more valuable intel against them is quite worthwhile. Japan has had some serious abductions made by NK operatives in the past, so at any given time all of our seas and beaches are given close surveillance by our very own spy satellites launched by NASA under the cover of weather satellites. Naturally, South Korea has an even bigger CIA presence; they have an entire floor occupied by them at the US Embassy in Seoul. Of course, they'll never admit this. They're all listed as either Army researchers or workers of the Embassy. No such thing as a 'CIA agent' for their job descriptions, even on paper. With this, they designated armored American RVs as the official transportation of the NSA."

"Wow," Ranma replied, awestruck. Did he get into a job that was way over his head?

"You don't have to worry about any of this. You won't be doing anything related to them, you'll only have to report to me. You didn't sign up for any spook work. At best you will be supplying reports to them using anonymous call-signs and receiving various bits of info from them when specifically requested."

That was comfortable to know, Ranma thought. But only slightly.

-----------------

"Retina scan and latent scan complete, data input finished," the computer's synthetic voice chirped.

Ranma looked at the screen in front of him to verify all of the info was correct. The contraption was one huge ugly looking piece, reminiscent of a giant Xerox machine that you would find in a cubicle enriched office. Nevertheless, its high tech scanners and state of the art laser markers detected and referenced over 3,000 unique identifying points on both his hands and eyes. Takayama assured him this was a safeguard measure for when Ranma was ever to access the JNSA's highly guarded and secret archives in case he was authorized to research something. This, along with the fact that in the case that an imposter would try to pass himself off as Ranma, this painstakingly meticulous ID method would rule out any mistake. Clever forgery was now entering a new era of high-tech wizardry and allowed identity fraud of an unprecedented level to those who had the resources and know-how to utilize it. A composite "living" mask like the kind people saw in spy-thrillers like Mission Impossible were no longer science fiction, the real thing was even better than its imaginary counterpart.

{System Online}

Subject - Ranma Saotome

Date of Birth - XX/XX/1976

Height - 5ft 11in.

Weight - 195lbs

Hair - Black

Eyes - Blue

Gender - Aquatransexual* Refer to Specialty File

Operational Status - Captain

Occupation - Japanese National Security Agency/Public Safety Commission/MAXIMUM ENFORCEMENT UNIT

ID Num - XXX_XXX_XXXXXX

{Identification Created and Confirmed}

"That looks about right," Ranma said. He patted his damp hair with a towel. He went to the bathroom and changed into a girl to get a second scan of his ID points and changed back as soon as it was done.

"Great, now to make your ID card," Takayama said.

A large machine next to the screen spit out an ID card for Ranma, which was laminated with a special, holographic material that had JNSA written in reflective silver letters. The card showed his picture, ID number, and some other info, and also had an interesting looking paper-thin silicon chip imbedded on the back of it, next to a black magnetic stripe.

"Sugoi! That's pretty neat."

"For many doors you'll be able to unlock them by just stepping near them, the sensors will read the chip that is in that card. For accessing some of the file cabinets, lockers, and the MaxFor HQ, that magnetic strip should work," Takayama said.

"What places do I have access to?"

"Just about everything from the 46th floor and below, although a lot of the floors are for non-essential records and public affairs offices, such as liaisons for local police, nationwide departments, and et cetera. Anything above the 46th floor is the Directorates of Intelligence and Operations. Very few people, me included, are allowed there."

"Fair enough."

"You're also going to want this." Takayama handed Ranma a small golden object.

Ranma took it, it was his badge. The design was nothing like the big oval badge the LAPD used; it was a lot smaller and had a beveled round profile around the chiseled shield, all on top of a rectangular box. In fact, it looked remarkable similar to the NYPD detective's badge that McClane kept as a souvenir, except there was an eagle engraved in the middle, with an intricately carved multicolor crest on top of it. The bottom rectangle part had his rank and "JNSA" carved into it. Definitely unique and good looking, Ranma thought to himself.

"Captain Saotome...I like the sound of that," he said.

"Better get used to it, my boy," Takayama said, smiling. "Once you progress through and get used to the job, there will be a lot of people addressing you of that rank. By the way, that's the official JNSA badge for all of our non-clandestine operatives, and you only show it when it absolutely must be shown. I'm sure I don't have to explain every little detail as to why, right?"

"So, where to next, commander?"

"You have to pick out your weaponry, next. We have an in-house armory upstairs."

-----------------

Ranma's jaw dropped. "I can have whatever I want?"

"Anything within reason," Takayama told him.

"Alrighty, then." He cracked knuckles and thought for a bit. "I'll need a Beretta 92FS Inox with a match grade barrel, with a laser-sight rod guide, Novak tritium Nite-Sites, and 6 spare 15 round clips. I need a Sig Sauer P226 9mm with the same specifications as the Beretta. I'll take the Heckler and Koch G36K with ten 30 round box magazines and five 100 round drums. And last, I need a Heckler and Koch MSG-90 sniper rifle fitted with a Hensoldt scope with five 20 round magazines."

"You certainly know your stuff, don't you?" Takayama said, jotting everything down.

"I keep myself updated," Ranma smirked. The G36 and MSG-90 were super toys that he had only read about and never had used before, but what he did read about them in professional magazines and reviews was impressive and awe-inspiring. The Beretta was a no-brainer, it had been his issued weapon for years and it was most familiar to him, despite the fact that it was quite large and tended to be bulky. The Sig P226 was a full size backup gun, primarily. Its size was slightly smaller and less bulky than the Beretta, and its flatter profile would make it somewhat easier to carry. In the past he had only a small revolver as a backup weapon mainly due to a lack of choice (he hated how Smith & Wesson pistols handled), but this time he had any choice and money wasn't an object of consideration.

"Anything else you need?"

"Yeah, actually. Make sure that the barrels on all four guns are threaded, and I'd appreciate access to suppressors that would fit them."

"That won't be a problem at all." He pointed at Ranma with his pen, appreciatively. "Good to know you're thinking ahead, using silencers to discreetly use your equipment. Good man."

To someone who doesn't know any better, one would think of a silencer as an assassin's tool, a tool used in the black-arts. But in truth they came in very handy for close quarter use inside buildings, especially when teammates were nearby. A single, unsuppressed gunshot has the potential to be loud enough to disorient and nullify the audibility of an operative, which could lead to serious trouble in an operation where speed and finesse is vital. Suppressors are not whisper silent as portrayed in movies and in fact still attract a lot of attention, but at least it sounded more like a loud pneumatic nail gun instead of an explosion.

Ranma whistled. "Jeeze, I bet all of this must cost a fortune!"

Takayama laughed at that. "You have to remember just how rich this country is! We extort billions from the big corporations. Besides, we are one of only six units in Japan authorized to carry firearms on a regular basis. I just don't happen to set a limit on what you can carry."

"Nice, nice," Ranma complimented.

"I'll need some time to get all this stuff ready for you, so why don't you head down and wait. By the way, the car you requested for is down in the underground garage."

"What?" Ranma's eyes grew wide open. "You actually got it?"

The elder commander shrugged as if it was no big deal. "Of course. It's brand spanking new, with almost all the mods you asked for."

"Almost?"

"We had to alter the engine to make it more reliable. As much as American cars appeal to me, their durability don't exactly match the Japanese," he replied.

"Hey, I'm shocked you guys even honored my request, let alone giving me something that big. Let's go check it out."

Takayama coughed, and shook his head. "I will have someone come up and escort you to the garage, this place is quite big and easy to get lost in."

"No problem."

-----------------

The intoxicating aroma of leather made him shiver in delight as he took another whiff of the interior, a lavishly furnished mix of only the highest quality materials. It was a far cry better than his old duty car, which was scented with spilled coffee and stale donuts and chips.

Ranma was actually quite familiar with cars, it had been sort of a hobby that he had quickly picked up on during college and had stayed with him all the way. The 2001 Chevy Tahoe that was in front of him was something he quickly noticed was not "stock", to properly describe it.

He had specified for an all black exterior finish, outfitted with run-flat all-terrain street tires and internal police lights and sirens hidden in the grill and bumpers, with additional blue/red lights stuck at the base of the windshield on the dashboard.

But the moment he opened the driver's door to take a peek inside, he could tell that a lot of the stuff inside definitely wasn't GM material. The leather, which he first noticed because of the aforementioned fragrance, was of much higher quality than anything General Motors even produced. The seats were completely different, and felt almost custom contoured to his body. The fit and finish of everything wasn't flimsy and plasticky, as almost all American cars were accustomed to. The console of the car had a large LCD screen neatly and tastefully installed above where the stereo controls were supposed to be, and the stereo itself looked like a custom unit. He examined the engine bay next, to see what Takayama had been talking about earlier. As he lifted the self supporting hood he expected to see a pushrod motor with Vortec inscribed on the valve rails, and perhaps even the supercharger he had requested. Instead, there was a large silver cover on top of what looked like a double overhead cam V8 engine.

"I see you've noticed the alteration I was talking about," said a voice from behind Ranma.

He looked around to face Takayama. "Yeah, I did." He turned around to look at the logo on the silver engine cover. "This is a Toyota engine?"

"Toyota in Japan, but if this were America I guess it would be Lexus to you," he answered.

"What do you mean?"

"I'm sure you've noticed that the interior isn't exactly stock Chevy material either, right? We had this car sent to Toyota so that they could convert the interior into a more hospitable place and we also had them implant a custom, 5.5 liter V8 taken from a Toyota Celsior* as a donor motor. The block was bored out and stroked with a long throw crankshaft and the heads are custom made. We can't risk bolting on a noisy supercharger in case you use this car in a noise sensitive situation. Nevertheless, the engine still makes over 400 horsepower and 490lbs of torque, mated to a 6-speed automatic transmission reinforced with an auxiliary tranny cooler. The gas tank has been enlarged to a 35 gallon capacity. The car can be silenced by pressing a button on the dash, it closes the bypass valves for the exhaust and silences it."

*The Toyota Celsior is the Lexus LS430 in America. More on this at the end.

"Again, I can't help but wonder how much this must've all cost."

"Nothing at all, actually." Takayama shook his head. "Toyota is legally contracted by us to support in all necessary operations deemed important to the national security of Japan. The same applies to Fuji Industries*, Honda, Matsushita, Mitsubishi, and Nissan. We give them an invoice, they deliver. In return, the PM of Japan influences the US Government to allow unrestricted sales of Japanese vehicles, as long as they are made in the US. The Japanese employ Americans to build their cars, on their competitor's own home turf, and they get to collect most of the profits. Anyway, here's a 2001, Chevrolet Tahoe LT 4x4 equipped with a police package spec transmission, high intensity discharge xenon lights, internal siren and emergency lights, an upgraded engine, and a tough shell of armor. Everything you asked for, right?" Takayama said.

*Fuji Heavy Ind. makes Subaru.

Ranma looked flabbergasted. "Are you kidding me? I can't even believe this! This is awesome. It looks like a blacked out cruiser, not a squad car."

Takayama threw him two sets of keys, which looked more like plastic fobs. Interesting little pieces of technology, these things. You left it in your pocket and the car recognized it like a transponder, and it sent an encrypted electronic code to activate the car and to deter any form of tampering. The car had a push-button starter. "It's all yours. This isn't exactly a good car for undercover use or for low key assignments, so we can issue you a loaner at anytime if the situation permits. But this big thing is definitely the right thing to be in when the shit hits the fan. Another thing you need to know is that whenever you need to refuel this car or any vehicle of yours for that matter, you should be charged gasoline before state taxes once they know you are operating a government vehicle."

"And how do I accomplish that without blabbing to the whole world what my occupation is?"

"Don't worry, since you signed up for the credit union we have, you should use only the credit cards we send you and our accountants should automatically deduct the cost from your final bill. By the way, remember what I told you over the phone before you got here, you only have one week to decide on a place to live instead of the one month I originally promised. Some difficulties came up and we need you to run some operations as soon as possible."

"I got it, I'll probably decide by the end of today. Do you have my weapons?"

A cart pulled up next to Takayama. "Two pistols, two rifles, four suppressors, all checked out by our in-house gunsmith and modified to your request. I also got the ammunition you requested, loaded up in your sidearms."

"Thanks, I can't even begin to tell you how much I appreciate you giving me this job," Ranma thanked him. He grabbed his Beretta and put it into a conceal carry strong-side holster that he had earlier attached to his belt.

"So where you headed now?"

"Nerima," he simply replied. He opened up the Tahoe's tailgate and loaded the rifles and heavy cases of ammunition into the back. He pulled and latched the cargo cover over the weapons to void prying eyes.

"To meet your parents? What a faithful son you are." The commander pulled out an object from his pocket. "Here, you're going to need this."

Ranma caught the small object. "A cell phone?" Just his luck, he didn't even have to go through the hassle of getting a new phone again.

Takayama clicked his tongue. "It's more than just a cell phone. It's also a GPS tracker and a radio transmitter. I've already had some of the important phone numbers you'll need stored in there, clearly marked. It's our only reasonable way of tracking you and your whereabouts short of locking a collar around your neck. You can put it to silent mode like a regular telephone if you need, but don't turn it off because it can't. It has a weird battery that I myself haven't been able to figure out yet but the bastard never has to be recharged. All of our important duty cars, your Chevy included, have this same battery so that we'll never have problems."

Ranma nodded appreciatively. "Thanks. But I think I'll get out of here now, I really want to get out in the open," he said eagerly. He gave a quick wave and hopped into the car. The onboard wireless telemetry instantly recognized his plastic transponder and all the electronics onboard lit up.

"Don't get lost when you leave this place, you're quite a bit away from Nerima so use the GPS navigator," Takayama said, reminding him.

He simply nodded and started up the car, emitting a very refined and audible growl from the tailpipes. The engine itself was very quiet.

"Have fun! And I'll contact you, or vice versa," Takayama said through the window.

All Takayama could see was a quick nod as the large SUV scooted off in a hurry, almost in a lurch with a puff of smoke. The driver apparently was surprised by the immediate power of the throttle.

The big black tank awkwardly merged into the busy metropolitan traffic of the city, and did so with little opposition. A Chevy Tahoe towered over most of these cars, and the normally aggressive mid-afternoon drivers let it through.

It was a bit of trouble at first to drive on the left side of the road after learning how to drive in the US, but Ranma quickly adjusted. He fingered the one-touch power window button to let in the city air. Sure, the smog was heavier and most likely the same as the polluted conditions of Los Angeles, but this was different. He took a quick, snappy whiff. Oh yeah, and that extra burnt diesel in the air was definitely more unique here. This was home, this was Japan.

He managed to finger through the LCD panel of the onboard computer that was staring straight at him from the dash. The navigation system proved to be more intuitive than he'd expected, he plotted a course to Nerima in no time.

As he got on a local expressway, Ranma nearly did a double take. He looked into the rearview mirror, and chided himself. With all the bustle and hustle of packing up and moving here, he had completely forgotten to tell his parents about it.

"Where's that phone Takayama gave me," he mumbled while digging through his pockets. He dialed in the number to the Saotome home.

"Moshi, moshi?" a very polite voice answered.

"Okaasan!"

"Ara? Ranma?" the voice dawned with recognition. "My goodness, how are you son?" Her voice lit up right away.

"Fine, fine," he said cheerfully, a big grin painted on his face.

"How nice of you to call home? How are you?"

To Nodoka Saotome, a woman who still barely knew the joy of having a full, happy family with her, even a simple telephone call from her only son was a rare and treasured occasion. Although they weren't necessarily pleasant. Those few phone calls she did receive were more like the calls of a distressed young man pleading for support and comfort.

Ranma craned his neck to barely see the highway sign he was just passing. "Mom, I'm actually in Japan right now," he said simply. He didn't know quite how to explain everything to her, so he decided to be straightforward. "I kinda just moved back today."

Nodoka nearly forgot to exhale. "REALLY?" she said, her eyes sparkling.

"Yeah, I'm sorry about the late notice." He scratched the back of his head. "Is it okay to come visit right now?"

"Of course, son!" Nodoka yelled to her husband with the phone on her shoulder. "Genma! Ranma is coming home!"

After hearing several pleased background yells, Ranma heard his mother again on the phone. "Your father is glad you're coming too."

"Good, good. I'll be there in about thirty minutes. See you soon!" He cut the call and set it on the center console, only to hear it ringing as soon his hands left it.

He answered it promptly. "Moshi-moshi?"

"Hey Ranma, I forgot to tell you a couple of important things that slipped my mind while you were here. They're pretty important too, so that's why I called."

"Well, I'm glad you decided to let me know," Ranma replied, looking a bit worried.

The next few minutes was spent with Ranma listening to a couple of important jurisdictional protocols and standard operating procedures, and most importantly his range of authority when confronted with clashing forces within his own allies.

When Takayama said he didn't have to worry about paperwork and bureaucratic bullshit, he wasn't kidding.

---------------

It had been difficult navigating such a behemoth of a car in the narrow streets of Greater Tokyo, Ranma made it to his destination without a hitch. Speeding on the expressways wasn't a problem as all the automated speed detecting cameras that snapped away at license plates didn't apply to a government vehicle such as his.

He parked his car in the tight street right in front of his parents' house, garnering some attention from the locals who were befuddled by the big black SUV's presence. Ranma honked the horn twice as he stepped out.

"Mom! I'm home!"

The gates of the Saotome home flew open as the excited Nodoka scurried out eagerly with Genma right behind her in tow. Her eyes sparkled in delight and her mouth wide open at the sight of her son, it was a sudden surprise that even her reserved self couldn't contain.

"Ranma!" Nodoka gave her son a great big hug as he ran into her arms and scooped her off the ground. Her eyes watered, enchanted in the moment.

"Okaasan, I've missed you so much," Ranma said happily, still embracing her.

She released her son and looked up to caress the face of her son that she hadn't seen in years. "You've changed even from the last time I saw you, you could give your poor mother a visit every now and then you know!" she chided him, a smile still glowing on her face.

"I know mom, I know," Ranma replied, holding his mother's hands. He wasn't going to make a long winded excuse and recap his life.

"Ranma m'boy, this your truck?" Genma whistled appreciatively at the expensive looking foreign car. He walked up to his son and gave him a firm handshake."

"Good to see you too, pops," Ranma said, returning his father's strong handshake. "I'm glad to see you're looking healthy."

Genma stood strong with arms crossed at his chest, but he couldn't help but show a smile as bright as his wife's. Inside, he was ecstatic and immensely content to see his son again. He'd never admit it, but as the years eroded away he found himself pining for his son's companionship or even the comfort of him being close enough to visit. His old callous treatment as a father had slowly evolved into a more compassionate opinion of his family.

"I'd feared sometimes that you might've gotten soft, but just from taking one look at you I can see you've been training hard and keeping up," Genma said, pleased. "What are you doing here, showing up out of the blue? Your mother and I almost didn't believe you on the phone. Did you finally decide to take a vacation and visit your parents?"

"Actually, it's more than that," Ranma said. He wasn't quite sure how to explain this, as it really had been very last minute. He wasn't sure how to handle his appearance in Japan again. "I have a new job here. The Japanese National Security Agency offered me a great job. I'm a Captain in their public safety division."

"Captain!?" both parents replied in dual shock.

"Su-geh! You've really worked yourself up, my son! I'm so proud!" Nodoka beamed.

Even Genma had to admit, seeing his son be an overachiever was still a proud victory for him as he did his best in whatever he tried.

"I got a nice salary, nice living compensations, and a free car," Ranma said, pointing to his Chevy. "I took a chance in trying to start my life here again. I don't want to stay away from my home forever."

"Well your mother and I are glad to see you, period. Let's go inside, and your mother will fix us some tea."

"I'm so happy to see you, Ranma." Nodoka didn't bother containing her excitement. She grabbed her son's arm as they all walked inside, her wishes come true as her son had returned to her. "Do you know how much we've missed you?"

Ranma simply nodded, happy for both his parents and feeling a bit guilty himself. He hadn't really thought too much about visiting his parents back, as usual he had been so focused on his own life that he figured phone calls and letters were enough to appease his parents.

As his mother went inside the house Ranma and Genma stood in the Saotome yard which had been greatly revamped and renovated with concrete paths. There was a large area that had been well maintained and used for Genma's private training. Ranma was surprised at how mellow his father was, it seemed time apart had made him grow fonder of him. It went both ways, as Ranma realized how much he had missed his father the moment he shook hands with him.

"So, you learn anything new, son?"

"I learned a few tricks or two, pops."

Genma looked over at his hip; his trained eyes subconsciously always looked for any sort of weapon in any person he came in contact with from years of conditioning. "Your workplace gave you a gun to carry around? What a cheap tool that is, dishonorable in combat don't you think?"

Ranma scoffed. "I got special authority to carry this with me at all times, no badge carrying nobody can do that. And it's not quite cheap when all the bad guys are using these against you. It kinda levels the playing field."

Genma looked at him with narrowed eyes. "And here I thought you kept up with your martial arts. For all I know you could've been using a gun to get your way across all your problems."

"Oh for crying out loud, oyaji!" Ranma knew his dad was just picking for a good old fight to satisfy his itch. He took off his cotton vest and polo shirt, he didn't want to get them dirty. "I'll take you down in five seconds, old man. I won't even break a sweat."

"Did you just become a bigger comedian while you were gone?" Genma bellowed. He got into a karate stance. "No holding back Ranma, you know how it's been."

"If I can't beat you in five seconds I'll give you my life savings that I've collected for the past four years. There's about 70 grand in US dollars in my bank account." Ranma smirked.

That sealed the deal for Genma, who yelled out an attack and lunged. Ranma simply shifted and twisted Genma's arm in an Aikido counter and made three lightning fast kicks to his torso. Genma fell down like a pile of bricks, paralyzed and suffocating.

Nodoka walked out to the yard in time to see a mangled Genma being treated by Ranma as he struck a few pressure points on his body. Genma gasped loudly for breath and groaned in pain, his head spinning dizzily.

"I'm speechless, Ranma," Nodoka said, breathless. "Where'd you learn that?"

Genma finally croaked. "What the hell was that?"

"I told you I learned a thing or two. That was just simple pressure point attacking, it was extremely difficult and taxing to learn. I also learned a Korean martial art called Tuk-Gong. I've mastered it into the Musabetsu Kakutou Ryuu."

"I was going easy on you boy," Genma muttered.

He made a sucker jab right at Ranma's face with left hand as he was being helped up. The pigtailed boy didn't move and took the punch, with nary a wince or a bruise.

"You can try all you want, that slow cheap shot won't hurt me easily."

"Enough violence in the house you boys," Nodoka said irritated. "The tea's getting cold."

"Hai~."

-------------

The reunited family spent a few hours reminiscing and catching up on lost time together and Ranma was completely at ease at his current peaceful state. Nodoka had apologized for not being able to cook a feast for her son since she hadn't known he was coming, but even something simple like udon had been more delicious than any Japanese meal he'd had in America because he was eating with his family. His parents were reminded rather quickly that they also had a daughter for a son, part-time, as emphasized by a splash of water that hit Ranma's face while she helped clear dishes.

Ranma was genuinely surprised at his father, who had been thoroughly rehabilitated over the years. He still ate a lot, slept a lot, and liked being lazy. But he had done quite well over the years as a repo man with an extremely successful reputation, and the income reflected in the household. The kitchen was renovated, they had all sorts of new appliances from refrigerators, to washing machines, and even a kick-ass plasma TV and the sort in the living room. All the furnishings were new and they'd completely redone the lighting for a brighter home. Thank god for Genma in getting a job where stealing was the profession. At this rate, his father had been making quite a living for himself!

He hadn't noticed it earlier, but his parents were more like a real married couple now. He saw them holding hands, helping each other with washing the dishes, and on his mother's hand he noticed there was even a new diamond ring that was never there before. Just watching them idly talk to each other and their interactions was a far cry better than what he last remembered, although their relationship had slowly been improving then too.

Genma noticed his son looking at him curiously as he looked away from the big screen TV. "What are you staring at Ranma?"

Ranma casually waved his hands. He wasn't going to press the subject, especially if his father was being a better person on his own. But it did make him wonder, who was this man and where was his old father? The whole concept of his responsible dad made him chuckle.

And what kind of person had he become in these past few years, Ranma thought to himself. His parents were proud now, sure. His accomplishments were right there to show in their faces. But what would they have thought of the things he had done, and the sins he had left behind to start afresh on new ones here?

Nodoka walked into the living room with a tray of slices apples and pears for everyone to eat. She places them on the ground and handed a slice to her husband and son, who gladly accepted them.

"So what are you going to do now, Ranma?" his mother asked.

"Well, I need to choose a place to live pretty soon. The government is going to pay for it, but I have about a week to choose. I'm not sure about living in Nerima, or even Tokyo. Nothing's permanent, and I can relocate wherever I want as long as it's Honshu."

"I could use a sparring partner, you ungrateful lout," Genma said lying on the floor, with his back to Ranma.

"Can't indulge ya, pops. I'm gonna be a busy man. And don't tell me I'll get soft or nothin' because I literally destroyed you in a blink."

Genma would've said something but the difference in skill between him and his son were too staggering to argue against.

"Actually, if you two can excuse me I'd like to go visit Ucchan," Ranma said, getting up.

"Oh? Why don't you visit Akane-chan while you're at it Ranma? I'm sure she'd like to see you again too," Nodoka said.

Ranma froze in his tracks. "There are still some scars that I'm not over mom. I was actually hoping to avoid her for a while, but I'll talk to her sooner than later."

Nodoka bit her tongue, forgetting that the last time her son disappeared from years was because of her. Genma winced too, he had made a slight comment on Ranma marrying one of Tendo's other girls, but was almost burned away by Ranma's fiery glare. They didn't want to risk any more heartbreak to their son that they hadn't seen in so long.

"We won't bug you about it son, you just make sure you enjoy your stay here now that you're back home," Genma said.

Again, his father managed to surprise Ranma. "Wow, thanks pops. That means a lot coming from you."

Genma chucked a remote control at his face. "That doesn't mean you can get all mushy on me. Remember, you have to stay manly."

Of course. "Yeah, I remember it well old man." He peeled the remote control off his face and tossed it back. "I'll see you later tonight. Bye mom, bye pops."

"Take care, we'll leave the gate unlocked!" Nodoka yelled out as her son gracefully hopped the yard walls.

-------------

"Eeep!"

That was the third person he almost hit as he drove these streets, more crowded than he remembered from many years ago. But Ranma's eyes couldn't help but wander as he was seeing all sorts of new buildings and establishments all over Nerima that were simply empty lots last time he'd roamed these streets. And this was just from a quick glance as he sped through, reaching his destination at Ucchan's Okonomiyaki.

It was still early in the afternoon, and he suspected when schools were out and night set that these once familiar streets would be bustling with energy. He slammed the door of his Tahoe shut and patted it as it locked itself. Damn nice bonus, he thought to himself.

Ucchan's familiar sign greeted him as he walked towards the entrance, but as he got closer he noticed that change had affected this place as well. The entrance was remodeled larger, and the curtains were replaced by nice, glass swinging doors with laser etched logos with Ucchan's name. When he walked inside, he nearly gasped.

What was once a comfortable and cozy small operation was now an upscale joint with a bright, dazzling atmosphere and fine furnishings all around. Space was expanded with walls being broken down to accommodate many more tables as well as a number of private rooms. The familiar grill where Ranma had indulged in countless okonomiyakis was astoundingly bigger, wrapping around like a giant sushi bar as the tour de resistance of the restaurant. He had expected to see Ukyou's pretty face and androgynous attire behind the grill, but instead there was an employed chef working the grill with another behind him preparing ingredients. The lunch rush had just passed, but there were still a dozen or so people eating at various tables.

"Holy shit, now this is different..." Ranma mused by himself.

A brunette figure in a plain white sundress ran up to him half laughing from the private room she had just came out of and came to greet him at the door, where a sign instructed all customers to wait before being seated.

"Irrashaimase!" a bubbly voice greeted him. "Please choose any seat you wish, sir! Someone will help you..."

Ranma looked down and looked just us surprised as she did, the words taken out of both their mouths.

"R-r-ranma?" she said quietly. "Is that you?"

"Ucchan!" he blurted, startled. No wonder he hadn't recognized her, she was in a dress!

Ukyou's face went from shocked, to confused, to full blown thrilled as she picked up her jaw and her smile lit up Ranma's face. "RANCHAN!!"

"Long time no se- OOF!"

Ukyou crushed Ranma in a big bear hug as she squealed euphorically and a tear or two squeezed out between her eyelids. "Oh my god! I can't believe you're here!"

"Hehe, surprise?"

Ukyou punched Ranma in the shoulder, albeit a little too enthusiastically. "You're damn right this is a surprise! I haven't seen you in... Jesus, 4 or 5 years! When'd you get here?"

"I came back to Japan this morning, Ucchan. I got a job as a cop here, I'm going to live in Japan again," he said, smiling.

"You don't know how much I missed you, Ranchan! I'm so happy to see you, and you're here and I can't believe it!"

It was kind of cruel, but Ranma was slightly amused at the reactions to his return, and Ukyou's was definitely a welcome one. He laughed with her and hugged her again himself, his heart warming to the sight of his beloved back home.

"This place is like the Ritz, now! Man, what else have I missed out on, ne Ucchan?"

"You came at like the perfect time! What are the chances! Everyone is here Ranma, over in that private room! Come on in, we were all just having a big get together and drinking and having fun." Ukyou grabbed his hand and pulled him but stopped as he didn't budge.

"Everybody? You mean everybody we knew? Who are you talking about?" Ranma replied, his voice quiet.

"The Tendos, Shampoo, her granny, Tofu-sensei, Mousse, even Kuno! They're all here, we all keep in touch every now and then."

He continued to stay still. "Even Akane and Ryoga?"

"Yeah, they're here too," Ukyou replied without a hitch, wondering what he was hesitating about in all her excitement. "Hey guys! It's Ranchan! Ranma's here!"

Ukyou walked back into the large private room ahead of him, returning to thoroughly confused group.

Ranma trailed slowly behind her. "Ucchan, I don't think this is such a good idea..."

He could almost hear his own footsteps clicking on the newly polished tiles of the floor as he slowly walked into the room. All noise stopped, with the only person still smiling being Ukyou. Ranma almost felt the energy dissipate as he had entered this room, as if it had been abuzz with fun and good times before he had arrived.

There were nearly a dozen set of eyeballs staring at him, looking at him as if he were a ghost. Ranma didn't stare back, and merely glanced at each of them in succession. From left to right, he saw Kuno, Tofu and Kasumi, Soun, Nabiki, Cologne, Shampoo, Mousse, Ryoga, and finally Akane.

"Hey," he weakly greeted in the friendliest voice he could muster.

The table continued to stay silent, as all eyes were either fixed on Ranma and his badge which was glinting in the light for all to see and his pistol on his belt.

Someone finally perked up. "Ranma, is that you?"

He almost blinked, as the voice had come from Shampoo. He found it hard to see anyone as familiar in this room, excluding Cologne, Soun, and Tofu, who had managed to look the same over the years.

"Yeah, it is. I came back to Japan this morning. What's everyone doing here?"

Akane finally spoke up, broken out of her reverie. "We're here to just have a get together party. Everyone was invited, even Kuno over here."

Ranma dumbly nodded at her, barely making eye contact. He saw Ryoga, who seemed to be looking at him curiously with annoyance, but no anger. He had his arm wrapped around Akane's waist, leaning back comfortably in his chair. Soun was sitting dead silent looking down, not daring to utter a word.

"So what made you show your vile face here, Saotome? As I recall you disappeared, tail stuffed between your legs, pitiful cur," Kuno slithered.

Leave it to Kuno to be an asshole on command, Ranma thought. He gave him a menacing glare that was mean enough to cause even Kuno to flinch, furthering the tension.

"How have you been, Ranma-kun? It's been so long!" a voice piped up from the back.

That soft welcome voice was immediately recognizable, as Ranma faced to see Kasumi. "I'm fine, Kasumi. I'm moving back to Japan. I got a new job here, and I'm not going back to America." Even she looked different from the last time he saw her, Ranma noticed. She was a bit thinner and a lot svelter and she looked like a wife, being married to Tofu for the past few years now.

The continuing silence was proving more and more uncomfortable for Ranma, and he cursed himself for timing a visit as horrific as this.

"So, what you doing back here?"

Ranma turned to look at Ryoga. His anger was instantly triggered as he noticed his smarmy grin and condescending laid back attitude. "I just told you, I got a new job here. I don't live in LA anymore, I quit the LAPD and I took a high ranking position here."

"When did all this happen?" Tofu asked.

Ranma thought for a second before he spoke. "It all happened real fast and recently. I got a good job offer here and I felt like returning to Japan. I still can have a job back in LA but I felt like reliving a Japanese life again for old times sake."

Nabiki took a sip of her beer that she had in front of her with a catty grin. "Well, well, well. What are you now, commander of patrol officers in Nerima? Are we gonna be seeing you around in the local kouban boxes, Ranma-kun?"

Everyone laughed at the comic relief, while Ranma was the only one fuming in place in embarrassment. He felt like an outsider, and didn't know what to say. And with those comments coming from Nabiki, he felt that much more humiliated.

Ukyou noticed this and started feeling uncomfortable as well. She had a feeling she was the only one who had been ecstatic to see Ranma. "Now, now. I'm sure knowing Ranchan he's doing something fantastic."

Ranma grit his teeth. "I'm a Captain in the Japanese National Security Agency's Public Safety Commission. I have direct authority over every law enforcement figure in the National Police and a direct monopoly in the domestic security of this country." Ranma's voice took a sharp tone. "For your information I could pretty much do whatever the hell I want. The Supreme Courts themselves wouldn't be able to do anything about it."

Everyone was speechless at his outburst, and Nabiki especially looked taken aback. The elder Cologne merely looked at him from the corner of her eye, she was neutral in this quarrel of a bumpy congregation and listened on. Ryoga and Kuno were the only ones who looked angry.

Ryoga stood from his seat. "Just who the hell do you think you are? Barging in here out of nowhere and ruining our fun?"

Ukyou looked like she was about to shout at Ryoga but was cut off by Ranma.

"I didn't barge in here, asshole. I came here to meet Ucchan. And how did I ruin your fun? Jeez, P-chan. I'm here for five minutes and you're already trying to pick a fight."

"Come on Ryo-chan," Akane pleaded, tugging on Ryoga's sleeve. "Leave him alone, we don't want to start any trouble."

"Ryo-chan?" Ranma looked confused.

Akane looked annoyed this time. "We got married a couple of months ago. I sent you an invitation, remember? Not that anyone expected you, but I sent it out of respect and at the request of my dad."

Something snapped inside Ranma's head. "I did get it, you kawaii-kune tomboy. I remember taking it to my fireplace and burning it."

Akane looked hurt and was visibly upset, and Ryoga's temper took a dive.

"Get out of here RANKO!" Ryoga shouted at the top of his lungs. He wasn't going to cause a scene yet, he had the vantage point in degrading Ranma. "No one wants you here, don't you get it! If you're going to act like a bratty girl again," he stopped to pick up a glass of water and chucked the contents at Ranma. "You might as well be one!"

With a quick wave of his right hand Ranma emanated a glowing red shield of ki that blocked the water from touching him, evaporating it on contact. As quick as his hand, the shield disappeared.

Everyone looked on, flabbergasted at the new trick he showed off. Cologne in particular now felt her spirit kicking.

"How did you do that son-in-law? You've managed to stay interesting after all these years," Cologne cackled.

Ranma was still upset, his features burrowed with aggravation. "I did a lot in the past four years. Don't ever mistake the fact that while I've been gone I've gone soft. I only came here to meet Ucchan, and not bother any of you. And don't ever call me that again, you old ghoul."

Cologne cackled again. "Haha, of course. Old habits die hard, I hope you understand?" Her smile disappeared, replaced by disgust. "Don't worry about that Ranma, a simpering cowardly fool like you who runs away from everything he's ever known is unworthy of a betrothal to an Amazon warrior. Especially one as dignified as my blood line. You disappointed me you know. The only reason we left you unbothered in college was so you could be educated and skilled, wise enough to bring valuable knowledge and wealth to our tribe. I would've pursued you, but seeing how pitifully you just hid from the world, even my resolve broke in your faith."

Shampoo looked heartbroken as she averted her eyes from everyone else's, and Mousse sat looking uncomfortable as he had grown out of this fiasco long ago.

Ranma was looking for an escape from this humility and personal torture, as he felt the primal urge to strangle the living bejeezus out of everyone he resented.

"Do you still hold the beauticious pig-tailed girl captive you sorcerer? I will defeat you somehow, fiend."

"Get out of here Ranma. Nobody wants you."

"Four years away and still a foul-mouthed jerk. How dare you talk to me like that even after I was nice enough to think of inviting you to my wedding."

"Ranma-kun being a Captain in Japanese law-enforcement? Please, that was a good joke. If these were the old days I'd be taking bets all day to such nonsense."

All the voices swirling, taunting him and ridiculing him filtered through his ear and seethed out the other in a mist of heat. He squeezed his eyes shut for a moment, wondering why the hell he was dealing with all this bullshit around him. Breathing in and out he tried to control his temper, as this was the time to repair broken ties.

But maybe perhaps that would come another day.

"You know what?. Shut the fuck up."

"What was that?" Ryoga said, lifting his head.

Ranma slowly remembered just how bad things had been when he left. Apparently his wrath still had a few bones to pick.

"I said..." Ranma held his breath. "SHUT THE FUCK UP!"

Ryoga's expression stayed neutral and he seemed to be looking for a reply. Kuno was looking furious, and the rest were speechless.

"Ranma, where did you learn to talk like that?" Tofu said, upset.

"Now you've really gone off the path, Ranma. Are you out of your mind talking to us like that!" Ryoga yelled right back.

"I said shut your fucking hole Ryoga! You're always a goddamn pain in the ass and I'm not even asking for trouble this time!"

"Calm down, Ranma!" Tofu shouted, worried this might escalate into something regrettable.

"So now Saotome speaks with a vile tongue as well? I see you've gone to great lengths to disgrace your soul and even your very name. The Saotome name reeks with the stench of dishonor," Kuno spat.

"You shut your fucking mouth too, Kuno! I ain't the one with the family of loonies hanging around that attic you call a noggin'! You're a fucking joke! Who the hell are you to question my honor? What do you know of mine and what I've done? You know nothing!"

"That's enough!"

Tofu sprung up to disable Ranma with a pressure point to his neck and render him unconscious. His strike was sluggish in comparison as Ranma grabbed his hand and twisted it down, arm barring the doctor towards the ground in a painful hold. Ranma's own finger shot down and he poked the doctor in the neck, putting him to sleep.

Kasumi shrieked for her husband and landed at his side, grabbing a hold of his unconscious body.

"I'm sorry Kasumi, I didn't hurt him. He'll be awake in a few minutes."

"Cur!"

Ranma pivoted quick to see Kuno's bokken thrusting straight towards his head, yelling with all his might. Ranma lifted his finger and thrust back at the tip of the bokken as it neared him, splitting the wooden sword into mere splinters that fell to the ground.

"What sorcery is this!?" Kuno yelped.

"Your own screwed up mind," Ranma replied in between clenched teeth.

He grabbed Kuno's face with his right hand and poked his right eye painfully with his thumb, and right as Kuno started screaming Ranma kneed him in the throat as he yanked his head down. Tatewaki Kuno felt his throat shut tight and his lungs catching fire as he croaked on the ground, completely incapacitated and struggling for air.

Ryoga looked on and had enough. "I'll take you on, Captain."

Ranma pointed a derisive finger at Ryoga's face. "You and me. Outside."

The delayed truce didn't even make it that far as Ryoga started throwing blows as soon as they neared the restaurant exit. Ranma tumbled out and dodged skillfully as Ryoga broke out in a flurry in full force out on the street, with pedestrians passing by looking on in terror.

Each of his strikes were wasted as Ryoga continued to punch and kick one after another, with Ranma effortlessly dodging them. Ranma yawned, swiftly moving left to right, his attention not even completely focused on their grudge match.

"Are you done, P-chan? This is getting tedious."

"Die Ranma!"

Ryoga's legs were swept out from underneath him and he managed to flip back on his hands and back on his feet only to see a grinning Ranma. Taunting him, making a fool of him. His anger reached a boiling point, and his fury caused his vision to blur red. With all disregard for those around him, he prepared his final attack.

"Oh, what do you think you're doing?" Ranma calmly walked towards him even as Ryoga was gathering a growing sphere of dark ki around him.

"It's over for you, Ranma! SHI-SHI HOKODAN!!"

To those who were in viewing proximity of the fight, their eyes were fixed on the huge yellow pillar of energy that shot up to the sky and gathered like a dark and heavy spherical sun that instead of providing warmth, shot out a breeze of chilly air to everyone around.

The ball slowly stopped climbed and formed into a perfect ball, and slowly proceeded to drop as Ranma walked closer to Ryoga who was currently lifelessly standing amidst his pillar of despair.

Ranma sighed as the ki started to plummet. "I didn't want to have to do this." He cupped his hands and aimed it up, before screaming. "TUK-GONG MOUKO-TAKABISHA!!"

An immense, almost indescribably large boulder of intense glowing blue chi formed around Ranma's body passively enveloping himself and Ryoga as it rocketed out of his hands and sucked up all the ambient air around them. The blue ki clashed with Ryoga's despair chi in an electric fury and was forced back as it was shot into the sky and out of view, propelled by the blue ki.

Ryoga nearly fell down in shock, his legs shaking. He was tired and his breath was ragged as he looked to face Ranma, who looked like he was only sweating.

"How is it possible you're so damn strong!"

Ranma shook his head, and looked appalled. "Four years of blood, sweat, tears, and losing some of your peers and losing some of yourself as the years past go by. It doesn't come for free. But the bigger question is, how are you so STUPID, Ryoga? Do you know how many people are out here? Do you know how many people you could have killed?"

"Die!" Ryoga panicked and threw tired, clumsy punches at Ranma.

Ranma swooped under one of Ryoga's right hooks and grabbed his arm in a twist over his left shoulder, seizing him in pain. "Your little piss-ant attitude is going to kill someone, Ryoga. You need to be restrained."

Ranma snapped down Ryoga's elbow on his shoulder and broke his arm, leaving him screaming in pain. Ryoga's horrified look only worsened as he saw the look on everyone's face as they had watched the fight, too shocked to say anything. Akane was the only one who ran to his side, crying.

"Oh my god! What did you do?" Akane wailed, tears streaming down her eyes. "How could you do that to him Ranma! You knew you could beat him! Why'd you break his arm!"

Ranma grit his teeth again, unrestrained bitter anger flowing from his calloused heart. "Akane you bitch... I risked my life for you, saved your life, give you my love, gave you everything! And you betray me and turn me into your enemy!? Ryoga needs to learn a damn lesson! He could've killed someone out here!"

Akane wiped away her tears, even though they continued to flow. "You're not the Ranma I remember! What's wrong with you!"

"See, that's the problem with you people! What's wrong with me? You haven't seen me in four fucking years, and you make your simple assumptions! You all might've lived your perfect sugar cookie sunshine lives here, but I didn't! Okay!? I'm violent, ruthless, and foul mouthed. But I came back to do a good thing and do good for my country!"

"Since when were you the fucking saint, Ranma-kun?"

Ranma whipped his head to see Nabiki, her narrowed eyes looking coolly at him. "When I got a clue that my life wasnt worth spending around here, four years ago."

Cologne hopped forward on her cane in the midst of all this nonsense she witnessed. "Then what did you come here for? To rile up old acquaintances? To have a fling or two?"

"The only person I wanted to meet was Ucchan. But all of you had to ruin that."

"Always the selfish, foolish, young boy, Ranma. But such fervor. Maybe I should make you Shampoo's groom after all."

"Don't even joke about that bullshit, Cologne. I'll break you myself if you try it."

"Forgive me for trying to crack a joke," Cologne spat back, insulted. "And either way that's no way for you to be talking like that to me. I won't take it from you, do you hear me? You won't get your way with such insolent arrogance."

Ranma's patience just about ran out. "How about I just snap your fucking spine in front of Shampoo, would that be enough?"

Cologne's hairs tingled and her aura rose at such a careless remark. "How dare you! How dare you say that to an elder of the Amazons, one who is much older than you! You think you'll get away with that!"

Shampoo was being held by Mousse as she proceeded to freak out with her hands to her mouth, fearful for both her grandmother and Ranma. Ryoga had already been dragged off the street, with everyone keeping their distance at the volatile Cologne. With the awesome prowess of these two martial artists in front of them, there was no telling who could get hurt.

"Perhaps I didn't make it clear," Ranma sighed. He seemed to almost disappear in presence and reappear within inches of Cologne, his movement quicker than the eye could see. His battle aura flared a visible crimson flame burning from a cocoon shielding his body. "I said I'm gonna break your fucking spine and rip your fucking heart out if you don't get out of my fucking face!" He drew his pistol and pressed the muzzle against Cologne's head, who first the first time in many years of her old life, was paralyzed by the sheer awe-inspiring envelopment of someone else's ki. "I've had enough meddling from you before, and I'm not going to take it anymore! Leave me alone!"

Shampoo finally broke free from Mousse and ran to clutch Ranma's body, sobbing on his back. "Please Ranma! Don't kill hibachan! Shampoo beg of you!"

Jolted out of his uncontrolled rage by Shampoo's heart wrenching weeping, Ranma holstered his weapon and took a step back. His face was flushed with shame, and he didn't know what had come over him.

"I'm sorry about this, all of you," Ranma said, unable to look any of them in the eye. He only looked over to Ukyou. "Ucchan, can you afford to leave the restaurant with me? It'll only be an hour or so."

Ukyou looked uncertainly at the rest of the shell shocked Nerima crew and Ranma's miserable visage. "Let me got tell Konatsu to look over the restaurant while I'm gone."

Ranma walked over to his car and touched the handle, automatically unlocking it. Ukyou ran out with her purse in tow and Ranma pointed to the other side of his SUV.

"Get in, let's go somewhere."

"Uh, sure."

He closed his door and started his car preparing to back out, until Nabiki stamped up to his window and pounded on it.

Ranma rolled down his window. "What do you want, Nabiki?"

Nabiki was just about out of patience herself. "Where the hell do you think you're going? Get back here, Saotome! You've got some explaining to do!"

Ranma rolled his eyes and rolled up the window just below his eye level. "I've got two words for you, Nabs. FUCK and YOU. See you around."

Nabiki's jaw dropped as he rolled the window up completely and drove away and out of sight. Akane ran up behind her, worried.

"I can't believe that just happened, onee-chan." Akane wiped her face. "He's so different, I don't know who that was just now."

Nabiki was grinding her teeth, boiling with anger. "I'm going to find out what happened to him these past couple of years. That guy can't possibly be the Ranma we know."

------------------

After a few minutes of wondering what to order, Ranma brought over a tray of French fries and chicken nuggets to munch on with Ukyou. They were seated at a booth, and were surrounded by a bunch of teenagers who had been out of school.

"Mmm, McDonalds french fries always does the trick for me. Never get sick of em," Ranma mumbled with a handful of fries in his mouth. "Mom sure did give me an earful for what happened back there. But she'll get over it, I'll tell her what happened exactly."

Ukyou looked sullen as she sat on the other side, trying to look for something to say. She remembered Ranma picking up a phone call from his mother on the way here, and she had not been pleased about what had just occurred.

"What's wrong, Ucchan? Have a nugget."

"What was that back there, Ranma."

Ranma finished chewing his food and grabbed a napkin to wipe his fingers. He looked out the window for a moment before replying, "Four years of pent of frustrations."

"......"

"I only went there to meet you Ucchan. Just wanted to see how my friend was doing."

Ukyou looked up to see eye to eye with Ranma. His gorgeous steel blue eyes seemed the same, but the radiance that mystified them was now different. "You've changed so much. I don't recognize you anymore."

"I thought you might say that," Ranma casually replied. "A lot's happened in the past four years, Ucchan. Things none of you could've possibly understood, things I've experienced as a cop that I was never prepared for."

"Where'd you learn to swear like that? And hurt people?" Ukyou looked like she was on the verge of tears. "You broke Ryoga's arm and threatened to kill Cologne like it was nothing."

"I guess I can only blame myself for being the sadistic, ruthless thug you see in front of you. There's a lot to it, Ukyou. I wish I'd written to you or even called you once while I was abroad."

"That's in the past, Ranchan," Ukyou sighed. She didn't feel like going through a trip down memory lane. It was an abused and painful path to take.

"I can't even begin to explain to you how I became what I am now, Ucchan. I've had friends die in my arms. I had to see innocent people getting killed. Seeing children killed. Drugs. Sex. Violence. Too many things that have plagued me, the old me. I've been forced to adapt, improvise, and overcome. And what I've become isn't pretty, Ucchan."

"Stop this, Ranchan. You're back home, you've left it behind. Let's not dwell on the bad."

"I've killed before."

"!"

"On more than one occasion." Pfft, that was a massive understatement, Ranma thought disgusted at himself. "I've gone through shrinks, counseling, personal anguish. All that stuff. But I'm telling you this much, because I want you of all people to at least believe in me. You're one of my few friends, maybe the only one I have here left in Japan, Ucchan. I don't think I can live here or live with myself if you can't accept me."

Ukyou stepped out of her booth and into Ranma's, and gave him a warm hug. "You're my friend, no matter what you've done. The Ranma I know, always at least atones for what he's done, right or wrong regardless."

Ranma let out a breath he didn't know he'd been holding. "Thanks... it really means a lot."

Ukyou leaned against Ranma, sighing as well. "You came back to us and in less than an hour you stir up a hurricane. Sure is good to have you back."

"I made quite an entrance, didn't I? And I sure like what you've done with your restaurant. It's a classy establishment."

"You don't even know half of it, mister. I've got two restaurants goin' now, and a third one I'm going to open in Okayama some time this week. Got myself a little chain going. The Nerima one is going to be the flagship restaurant, and Konatsu is managing my other one in the Sumida area."

"You've been busy, haven't you?"

Ukyou laughed. "I went to night school and took some business managing classes, and used my savings to open up a second restaurant as soon as we graduated high school. You never knew about the other one because I didn't give you a chance to see it last time you came, and you were already gone next thing I knew."

"You move on with your personal life and get a boyfriend or two all these years?"

Ukyou blushed in surprise. "Where'd that come from? I've tried to see if I could go around with a couple of guys after the shock of not being able to have you, but I haven't found anyone yet. I guess nobody around is anything like you."

"Ack, you know I never meant to hurt you," Ranma said, feeling he shot himself in the foot by asking that question. "By the way, I wanted to give this to you."

Ranma pulled out an envelope from his pocket and handed it to her. When she opened it up she almost dropped it.

"What's the meaning of this? There must be at least 500,000 yen in here!" She flipped her finger through the numerous 10,000 yen bills.

"I wanted to pay you back for all the free meals I ate when I was younger, and man did I eat a lot back then, ne?"

Ukyou looked like a deer caught in a pair of headlights, and she shook her head. She shoved the envelope back into Ranma's hands. "I can't take this. I don't know what you're thinking giving me this. You're like family to me Ranma, and I can't charge my family. Please take it back. Don't you need it?"

Ranma smirked. "Fine. If you see it that way then it's a present for all the birthdays, Christmas', and whatever days that I missed for you. Besides Ucchan, I don't need any of that money. I'm not the poor martial artist like I used to be. I get paid a LOT for what I do. And if you still refuse it, I'm gonna force it into your bank accounts and scatter it so you can't trace it to send it back." Ranma's smile turned wider as she looked at him curiously for even knowing how to do such a thing. "It'll just be there, for you to use."

"Ok, ok." Ukyou raised her hands in defeat. "You win. Thank you. I think I'll use this to buy a used car. I've been thinking about getting one to get back and forth from my restaurants."

Ranma waved it off. "Don't even mention it." He stuffed his mouth with some more fries. "You know, I have a week to choose a place to live. The NSA says I can live anywhere I want in the eastern half of Honshu. They pay for everything too. I still haven't chosen where."

Ukyou leaned over. "How about settling down with me? Have a lil' fun with your best buddy?"

Ranma gently pushed her back, and gave a sad smile. "That would be fun, Ucchan." He saw her face light up, and winced. "It would've been great if we could've gone to college together. But I can't do that. You know what I mean."

"Yeah." Ukyou straightened up and ran her hand through her hair. "I know exactly what you mean," she sighed. "That's why I stopped waiting, Ranchan. Friends forever, right?"

"Friends forever. Don't ever doubt it." He looked at her carefully, and to her surprise gave her a wet kiss on the lips. "I don't see you as a lover or a wife, but I love you all my heart as a friend."

As soon as his lips released from hers Ukyou slid a few inches away and her face glowed like a scarlet veil. She brushed her lips, which were still quivering, too embarrassed to say anything.

"You've been my only real friend around here Ucchan." The smile he gave reminded her of his bright, young face from back when they were younger. "The reason I love you so much is because you were selfless enough to give me up. You don't deserve me Ucchan. Look at me. These hands," he said as he grabbed hers. "...are tainted. I've killed with these hands, do you understand? I want you to give up on me completely, because I'm not the same guy. Being your friend...that in itself is a miracle enough for me."

Ukyou could only fluster, still embarrassed. "J-jeez Ranchan! You turned into a chatter bug! Who could've guessed you would talk so much about your feelings like that!" Her voice turned more compassionate. "And don't think of yourself as a killer or a bad person. I can still see a lot of the old Ranma in you," she said, flicking his eyebrow. "All I see is that you've matured into something that you've carved yourself over the years. So you have a dark past, you're sorta like a soldier who just came back from war."

"I'm sorry, I didn't know I used to talk so little," Ranma mused to himself.

Ukyou shook her head vigorously. "No, not at all. Just you're not the type... well at least you weren't the type to be all down about yourself. Cheer up, yeah? Tomorrow's a brand new day, Ranchan."

"Well, that's that. Now how about you help me choose a place to live? I haven't thought about this at all yet."

"Well, where do you want to stay?"

Ranma thought about it, stroking his chin. "I'd prefer a place where I can visit my mom and dad, and YOU of course, on the weekends. But I want to be away from Tokyo, and away from Nerima."

"You can just live on the outskirts of Tokyo, that's plenty far enough you know," Ukyou replied.

"Nope, my gut instinct tells me Tokyo will be only trouble," Ranma said, thinking. He continued to munch on tidbits of food, and he snapped his finger.

"You got an idea?"

"Hey Ucchan, you said you're opening up a restaurant in Okayama, right?"

"Yeah, it's almost done. I'm going to open it in a few days. I opened it up after property values plummeted out of nowhere when a high school in the city exploded, and people started talking crazy like the city was under terrorist attack or some other nonsense like that."

"Are there living quarters in your restaurant?"

"Of course," she replied. "I make them so that I can stay indefinitely in any of my locations when I need. I'm building these from scratch to my specifications, so I figured I might as well be able to live there too."

"How's about this? You can move to Okayama and I'll station there! It's close enough to visit Nerima on the weekends, and it's plenty far enough away from this loony bin."

"Hey, hey," Ukyou chided. "This loony bin is our home, you know."

"I'll get over the loss," Ranma replied. "But anyway, I'd be able to visit you everyday."

Ukyou thought about it. She was a self sufficient business owner, and she could move to and fro as she pleased. And... she had a chance to be close to Ranma. And only her. "That's not a bad idea. Not a bad idea at all."

"Not fuckin' bad at all." Ranma winced when he saw Ukyou raise an eye. "Sorry, bad habits die hard."

"It'll definitely take some time getting used to," Ukyou chuckled.

"Hey, take it or leave it, babe." Ranma swept his shirt exaggeratedly. "It comes with the package."

"Oh, you Casanova!" Ukyou shoved his head into the window, laughing. "Don't try to trick me with your cheap pickups!"

"I'm sorry, I couldn't resist," Ranma said, also laughing. He peeled himself off the glass, catching glances from other patrons in the restaurant.

"It's so great to have you back, Ranchan," Ukyou purred.

"It feels great to be home," he sighed in content.

End of Chapter 1

Disclaimer: Ranma is not owned by me, it is a copyright by Viz, Rumiko Takahashi, the other big companies, so on and so forth. John McClane is a trademark of 20th century Fox, John McTiernan, and other big company big wigs. Don't sue me cause I don't have any money, and if you plan to, go fuck yourself.

Author's Ramble: If only you guys could know how much I anguished over this one stupid rewrite, then perhaps you'd understand why it took so long. And why it's so damn LONG. Wow. Just kidding, at least 40% of the lag time is just a bullshit excuse of not having time to work on this. But now that it is finally done, I feel like a load has been taken off my chest and I'm very satisfied.

This rewrite has been over three years in the making, and I started it because when I originally started Officer Saotome 5 years ago it was in script, it was shitty, I wasn't a cop yet, and it just plain sucked. It's a shitty first attempt at a fanfic and this is just an attempt at redeeming it. No cocksucking script fic can compare to a prose piece of fiction, in my opinion. Thermopyle taught me that, years ago. I certainly had lots of fun writing this too, as I intertwined it with future elements I want to introduce to the plot in future chapter of the series. Even some elements of chapter 6 (which was released before this in a rough, uncut release from my eternal lagdom) will make more sense after reading this rewrite.

Okay, so here come the technical notes. To those of you reading for the first time (and rereaders ^_^), here's the scoop.

By the way, THIS version you're reading is a rough cut. It has not been preread yet, and I'm sure there's a few glaring errors in grammer/spelling/bullshit what not. So forgiveness, PREAASE!

Obviously Ranma's character is very OOC, but hopefully I think I developed hints of his scarred life in this chapter (and continued in subsequent chapters) to explain this.

The Special Investigations Section [SIS] is a real working unit of the Los Angeles Police Department's Metropolitan Division headquartered at Parker Center, in the city of Los Angeles California. It is a search and destroy surveillance oriented force that works under official LAPD protocol and guidelines and has been around since the 1960's to combat repeat hardened and hardcore criminals. Now the action sequences I've put up are of course over the top because it's Ranma we're talking about here, but the general missions are pretty real and they happen. They track repeat armed robbers, rapists, and other hardened criminals under careful surveillance and wait for them to commit a crime and provoke a shootout. Whine all you want about how immoral this is and how cops shouldn't watch a woman be raped or what not. I don't like it either. But if you see Los Angeles even for a day or two in the shoes of a police officer... I have to admit, the past few years have been harrowing and traumatizing and I've definitely learned a lot about the misery of life. Some parts of Los Angeles are an invisible cesspool, and even to those who live there and visit frequently, there is a mystique to Los Angeles' unforgiving crime.

I borrowed quite a few movie elements to incorporate, the three most obvious being Lethal Weapon (the intro shootout at the schoolyard), Die Hard of course, and from Michael Mann's Heat. I've always been a big fan of Die Hard, so I have to give Bruce Willis' character John McClane some props. The entire first car chase was inspired direct from Die Hard with a Vengeance, same car, same maneuvers and all.

Al Waters and Vince Thompson are comedic relief characters who even though I haven't written about them much, I've grown really attached to, and you will see them in the distant future. Vince Thompson especially is modeled about as close as I could to a modern day Doc Holliday. Specifically Val Kilmer's godly portrayal of Doc Holliday from the movie Tombstone. You know that's a winner right there.

And for the references to the movie Heat, Al Pacino's character Vincent Hanna is an obvious one. And another Val Kilmer plug, Chris Shiherlis, the one guy who got away in the movie. He's cool and all, but seeing as how they fucked it up for me by killing off DeNiro, it pissed me off to see Shiherlis get away. I used this as a plot device to A) Satisfy my annoyance B) Add some more depth to Ranma's shady past, which is still mostly unknown at this point in the story.

Other movie elements I borrowed from is LA Confidential in the LAPD flashbacks, specifically Ranma's partner and one of the officers who get killed. If you like good movies, PERIOD, and you haven't watched LA Confidential, watch this classic now. I think you'd appreciate this fic immensely just from the noir aftertaste that movie leaves after you finish it in its entire glory.

The council shooting board is based loosely off the movie Extreme Justice, which by the way is a movie about the LAPD's SIS specifically.

Now there is mention of Ranma learning a new martial art from the Korean special forces. Yes, Ranma would be able to kill them all with his pinky. Yes his ki attacks and massive strength are no match. But I tried to portray the skill versus skill aspect, and try to ingrain some more technical knowledge into Ranma's noggin. Like the fatality moves, cheap moves like throat jabs and eye gouges, and specific moves involving firearm use while combining martial arts. Tuk-Gong Moo-Sul (literally the "Specialty Art") is used by the Korean 707th Counter Terrorism Battalion in South Korea, and is also passed down to the 686th National Police's Gyung-Chal Tuk-Gong-Dae (Literally Police Special Unit), which recruits from aging and cross traded 707 soldiers. It is Korea's equivalent of the "SWAT" team, and they are deployed nationally as a quick reactionary force for minor to moderate incidents. The 707th are among the best in the world, and they are one of the privileged few to cross train regularly with US Army Delta Force, US Navy DEVGRU (SEAL Team 6), British 22nd Special Air Services [SAS], Israeli MOSSAD, and German GSG-9. I'd mention others, but I think they're pitiful compared to these powerhouses, hehe.

The JNSA is something that I made up, I have no idea what kind of methods the Japanese government uses, let alone which units get to carry concealed handguns. I tried to base it on the KNSA, the Korean National Security Agency, formerly known as KCIA, the Korean Central Intelligence Agency. Yes, I know. Us damn Koreans like to copy off of the US government. The KNSA is the equivalent of the American FBI and CIA combined, making them very powerful with authority. I took a LOT of liberties concerning Japanese law enforcement, funding, operation procedures, and a million other things. So for here, I will concede to my passion for being technically accurate with things.

The car that was originally issued to Ranma by the JNSA in the script version of this fic lacked some of the cooler features I went in depth with, but the biggest notable change is the motor. Whereas originally I had him get a supercharged pushrod Vortec V8, I realized that shit can be done a step better and I had a customized Toyota Celsior motor dropped in. The Toyota Celsior is better known as the Lexus LS here in America. ^_^ The motor is bored out to a big 5.5 liters to propel the huge Chevy Tahoe, and yes anyone with enough money can get such a mod done. Money can do anything, don't you know?

And to add even more to that, by influence from PCHeintz on the Anifics forum (former Delphi crew), I will go more in depth on such an engine modification. Let's see... the 4.3L V8 used by Toyota for a wide range of their cars (mostly luxury) is identical to the 4.7L V8 used in its trucks and SUVs, only difference being that the larger motor only displaces more because of a stroked out crankshaft (the range of travel caused by the piston linked to the connecting rod that is attached to the revolving crank). So, by boring out the cylinder walls a little wider and adding a massive crankshaft, you can feasibly and reliably increase displacement for an added 1200cc's to get 5.5L's of love. Such a strategy will create a torque biased motor for sure (as stated by the 400hp, 490lbs of torque curve) and engine tuning for fuel and ignition timing can be simply achieved with an ECU connection and a dyno (with access to factory shit as mentioned in the fic, this should be no prob at all). The top-end, or the heads, valves, valve springs, etc can all be properly modified and custom built, as well as custom built pistons, rings, con-rods (all for a pretty penny), and other supporting hardware can simply be purchased aftermarket and is simple to find. Such mods would include a larger alternator, as PCHeintz had reminded me, fuel rails, fuel lines, injectors, pumps, radiators, and oil pans. I can go OFF and ON and ON and ON forever with this, but you get the idea I hope and please believe me when I saw I think these details through (although by self admission I will say I was sloppy in not mentioning enough to readers who are also enthusiasts of the same subjects as I, and that's all the more motivation to write stuff like this) and I don't splice in complete bullshit.

As for the police phonetics and blotter used, I'll be real brief. A "211" is an armed robbery call, one of the highest priority calls in the LAPD. Code 100 means "Execute, or ready to roll", as used in the context. The vehicle designations, such as Ranma's personal 5-King-90-16 is a special one, as 5-King-90 is specifically for SIS use, and the last number is just a specially designated one. Regular designations like 3-William-56, indicate 3 being Wilshire Division, William indicating a detectives unit, and 56 being another specially designated individual number. That's about it.

I also had to give a shameless plug in for pho as a cure for hangovers, as it is my absolute favorite thing to have when I need to recover from drinking and one of my favorite dishes, period. Ahh, pho... how I love you so much. Especially dac biet with all the trimmings.

Alright kids, until next time. I'll be working on the chapter 2 rewrite (oh dear I wonder how fun this will be...), as well as finishing up chapter 6 now and outlining chapter 7. For all you doubters thinking I quit my work... well honestly I don't have too much clout to keep you from blaming me for quitting considering how much I lag. But, until this shit's finished I won't give up. ^_^

PLEASE, PLEASE, PLEASE SEND ME FEEDBACK!!! I write way faster when people give me feedback! My e-mail is SgtRanma yahoo . com .

Finished August 15, 2006.


	2. 02 First Encounter Prose Rewrite

This is part two of two rewrites I am currently undergoing for my Officer Saotome series. I first wrote Chapter 1: Meet Officer Ranma in script form instead of prose because it was my first fic and I wanted to use a format that I thought I could do better with. After the third chapter, I realized that script is truly no match for prose style writing. I realized that I could convey the mood, setting, emotions, and other various nitpicking descriptions much better in novella writing than clinical script. With my first prose rewrite accomplished, it is now time for Chapter 2: First Encounter to receive its tour de force rehaul.

Also, another big reason I wanted to rewrite the first two chapters was because I wanted to portray Ranma's character better (as well as fix some stupid mistakes I made, and there are a LOT of them ^^;;), and add in some stuff because now that I look back, the original first chapter is pretty damn corny. For those of you who have already read this fic before and you're reading this right now, you will notice a lot of newly added scenes. Not only that, I want to add things NOW that will come into play later so that they will make better sense (although I shall write it so that they're not really required knowledge, just as supplements) in my yet unwritten/unpublished chapters.

This second and final rewrite that I will be finishing up will make up for the massive plot holes and flaws of the second chapter's crude story telling (if you can even call my old dog shit a story), and give one of the main heroines of this story the intro she deserves. My original introduction to Kiyone was a crude and undeveloped one, much like her character in the TV/OAV/Movie/etc series. I am determined to flesh out her character as she is so underrated (fanboy that I am) and has the potential to be so much more, and long ago vowed to give life and personality to her in a way I'm sure lots of fans of Kiyone can hopefully appreciate..

Now, enough ranting. On with the show!

--------------

This fic is a crossover continuation fic for both the Ranma and Tenchi Universe. Hopefully you readers know some basic knowledge about both Ranma and Tenchi:) I would rate this as an "R" fanfic, because of some of the harsh language used.

Here are a few things you must know while reading this:

-The Ranma aspect of the story takes place after Manga 38 and the Tenchi aspect takes place after the TV show/OVA.

-At the end of manga 38 Ranma was at the end of his sophomore year in Furinken High School and the year is set in 1992. I like keeping an accurate timeline in my fics.

-I try my best to get geographic locations as accurate as possible with what I can find on the internet, but obviously I'm no Magellan so fictional locations will be rampant.

-Police jargon, cop talk, miscellaneous references, and other oddball things that you may find in the story and don't understand will be explained at the END, in my Author Notes section.

-And finally, (for now) Ranma as you read him in this intro will seem very out of character. But this will all be explained with some flashbacks and explanations! This is a long, somewhat complex story! You need to finish it through, hehe. This is in response to a lot of people emailing me unhelpful flames (yes, I find flames helpful in general if they make even a little bit of sense) WITHOUT finishing reading through everything. Now that doesn't make much sense now, does it? It's common sense, guys. I like all sorts of feedback, don't get me wrong.

-SgtRanma

Please visit my website at .com! New fics will always appear there first!

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Chapter 2: First Encounter

April 7th, 2001. 6:50 AM.

Apt No. 420, Senzai Haru Villa - Okayama, Japan.

Four years of being used to a certain time zone certainly had its effects when one immersed themselves in a different one. Even a week of rest hadn't quite reset this biological ticker.

Ranma sat up and looked at the clock next to his luxurious king sized bed. It wasn't hard adjusting to Japanese time as the jet lag had been minimal. But for someone who'd lived the life of a night owl waking up late in the morning, it felt a little unusual rising early.

"Hmmmmm," Ranma mumbled to himself, still drowsy. He looked down, and blinked.

Of course. Two mounds of plump flesh dangled below, and he who turned into a she remembered that she had gone to sleep as a girl after finishing up tidying her new apartment. An April shower had caught her right at the end of her move, with a stack of boxes in her arms. Tired and feeling lazy, she fell asleep without bothering to change back.

She walked into the living room and stretched as she turned on the big screen flat panel TV onto the local news, wondering what the day would bring. As she fixed a glass of water to drink in the kitchen, Ranma still looked around in awe at just how good the accommodations were. Her boss sure delivered on his promise of a good life. The apartment was far larger and more luxurious than she had ever imagined. Two bedrooms, a large airy living room, and plenty of windows viewing the Okayama landscape all to herself and all utilities were provided without worry. Privacy was a high priority for both Ranma and Takayama, the apartment was discreet in concealing her address and identity and all entry was accessed via fingerprint recognition.

Ranma opened up her laptop, one of the first purchases she'd smartly made when she arrived in Japan. She wrote several emails to friends abroad, as well as one to Ukyou to let her know things had settled.

Ranma tapped the keyboard, wondering how soon it would be till his buddy Ucchan would be done setting up her own restaurant. A couple of complications arose as minor problems popped up before her planned grand opening of her third restaurant, and she was forced to delay it for a few days.

She sighed, it was going to be tough living in a new place again without knowing anyone around.

After logging onto a secure BBS network that Takayama had created for his agents, Ranma perused through the various messages her boss had sent her. To secure any confidential information from being accessed and leaked to unauthorized personnel, Ranma constantly had to check her phone for a decryption code that constantly updated itself every 6 hours to read anything.

There were no important tasks given to her, although she had kind of hope for it, there were several minor agendas that Takayama had outlined for her today.

Despite the lack of initiative, Ranma was informed to keep up with any major incidents that occurred in his area and was to take over and command at will if there was any sort of crime that local law enforcement would have trouble handling efficiently. Possible situations included but not limited to narcotics trafficking, terrorism, organized crime, firearms related incident, and various other crimes of heinous nature.

"A watchdog, am I?" Ranma pondered. As various pages on his browser loaded he fiddled with his P226 and silver 92FS that were on the table along with the laptop. The Beretta had a skinny black suppressor can firmly attached to the muzzle and had an odd, if mismatched two tone finish in contrast to the stainless steel finished pistol.

One particular memo caught her attention as she browsed through. Takayama wanted her to familiarize herself with the Okayama Police Department, while keeping minimal contact and keep them under surveillance. Complaints of corruption had been filed and ignored in the department, and overall performance of the officers had been generally lackluster and lax depending on the brass controlling from above.

Ranma scoffed, ignoring that one. Police corruption basically meant petty payoffs and turning a blind eye to the activities of the local sex industries and underground gambling. She did a bit of homework on her Japanese police counterparts. Short of murdering innocent people, the Okayama PD was probably plagued with the same run of the mill problems as every other police presence in the rest of Japan. She didn't feel like becoming a nosy Internal Affairs rat.

But the other part? Ranma figured she could go around town and check out the local police in action, and visit the station maybe and sneak around. Getting to actually know people she though to herself, might actually prove difficult however.

She closed her laptop and walked into the bathroom to forget about work for now.

***

April 7th, 2001. 10:32 AM.

Detectives Bureau, Okayama Police Department - Okayama, Japan.

"Mou! I'll be stuck in this office forever with this much paperwork!"

Sergeant Juzo Kanemaki walked up to the woman in distress with a cup of coffee in his hand. He gave her a sympathetic smile as she put down her pen and rubbed her temples in frustration.

"Your partner did quite a number again I'm guessing? The Lieutenant sure knows how to rustle things up around here," Juzo said.

"You don't know the half it," she replied, sighing as she leaned back in her chair. "Damn her for having me fill out all this crap. I'm glad I'm not fired yet, but jeez. How is it she gets such a break?"

Juzo nodded understandingly. The Okayama Police's detectives weren't a terrible bunch, but the past year or so had been considerably livelier with the transfer of two new officers under their wing. He looked around while sipping his coffee. Everyone was busy doing one thing or another, and their time was spent productively doing mostly paperwork if they weren't called out on the field. He was one of the younger detectives, with a newly married wife and a newborn kid coming just around the corner.

"Kanemaki-san, doesn't Lieutenant Kuramitsu drive you crazy with all the extra bullshit she brings around?"

"Hmm?" Juzo sipped his coffee and looked down on one of the only two detectives who was younger than him. "Well it is a bit of a mess, Makibi-san. But I have to admit, since Mihoshi came our workload may have increased but everyone here got a pay raise too from all that extra effort. It's nice for a starting family man like me."

Twenty-six year old Sergeant Kiyone Makibi rolled her eyes and blew away her beautiful teal hair that was dangling in her face. "I can't believe that blond airhead. How does she do it? I mean I'm not bad at this job myself, I know you've at least seen that, Kanemaki-san." Juzo simply nodded as she looked up. "But for her, she messes up and does something extremely lucky to become a hero and gets all the credit. It's the story of my life, I swear."

Juzo continued to sip on his coffee. "Well, I got some bad news for you." He plopped down another packet of files and folders on her desk much to her chagrin and widening eyes. "The cycle just keeps getting more and more vicious. These are all yours."

Kiyone wordlessly waved her hands and took them. "Great, more work. This is how I get to spend my Saturday."

"It'll be done before you know it. I just finished all of mine right before I came to see you."

"Lucky bastard."

"She's your partner," Juzo laughed, receiving a glare from his friend. "And if I'm not mistaken, you get a four day vacation next week anyway. I'm going to take off, I need to check out a tip that was given to us for a narcotics tradeoff. Good luck with all this paperwork, it'll be done in no time."

"If my commander in charge ever stays out of trouble. Good luck," she replied, sighing again.

Juzo waved as he closed the door to her office, shutting out the ambient noise from outside.

The temptation to blow off all her work felt really appealing to the fair skinned detective, as the pile was a formidable one sitting in front of her. Kiyone leaned back, the fair skinned Galaxy Police veteran twirling her chair around to face her stained glass window. She brushed her tan baby-tee shirt and her designer jeans to knock off crumbs of wheat thins that she munched on while sitting idly in the office. The shirt was a snug fit on her, and her ample breasts shook as she wiped them off in embarrassment. She dressed very casually to work, one of the perks of being an investigator instead of a lower ranking foot soldier.

Had it already been over half a year, Kiyone mused to herself? Getting a job here with Mihoshi in the local police force had been a piece of cake thanks to Washu's meticulous tinkering. She had kicked herself at first when she hadn't thought of it earlier. Why waste time with menial jobs for petty cash when she had an opportunity right in front of her with the training already part of her skills? The transfer was a privileged one, with Kiyone and Mihoshi guised as stellar, young, up and coming investigators coming in with years of Japanese police experience under their belts. It was only half a lie, Kiyone was a first-class detective with the Galaxy Police force.

Despite the sexism and gender stereotypes that were rampant in the Japanese police, Kiyone and Mihoshi dragged themselves above and beyond such limitations by exceeding the expectations of many superiors in what a female officer was capable of. Their prior experience and training in the Galaxy Police gave them the necessary edge in being able to handle more than standard patrol duty and petty undercover assignments of menial social importance.

This new surge in income and self-respect was a definite perk of course, with Kiyone indulging in the little things in life that she had taken for granted when she arrived on earth. She got to buy all the cute clothes she wanted, designer brands, food that didn't border on MSG loaded microwavable, and even a new car to boot. Even better with the recent peace that reigned over the known universe with Kagato defeated, her promotion within the GP and newfound authority didn't force her to patrol Earth in a lonely and tedious space cruise that didn't amount to anything anyway. Her ambitions with the GP were at a critically acclaimed stage in her life, with personal orders from the Jurai Royal Family to offer protection for family members residing on Earth. Having her true close friends nearby was a nice plus, and the exclusivity of her assignment had every Galaxy Police officer in the universe looking at her and Mihoshi like they were godlike deities.

The reassignment to patrol Earth's solar system however was also influenced by another factor altogether for Kiyone. Jurai's coup d'état debacle left Kiyone disillusioned with the Galaxy Police and the rampant corruption that had ensued. She decided it would be far better for her to stay with her power circle of friends and diplomatically stay one step ahead of whatever the GP would try to pull thanks to Ayeka as a close friend.

But with all that was good, there was Mihoshi. Kiyone sighed at the nuisance of a blonde hot-air blow up doll that knew nothing but partying and going to karaoke bars and causing havoc at the very proximity of her presence. But low and behold, what ever Mihoshi seemed to screw up it turned out magically successful with her zany actions alone. Every accidental success she had impressed the brass in the department more and more and she was promoted to head the entire detectives' bureau in the Okayama Police Department. Moans and groans were heard, but no one could dispute the raw success she brought to the table.

Kiyone didn't hate her partner, far from it. She could even admit she was her best friend. Before Earth, Mihoshi was an acquaintance who was a stubborn obstacle in her path to glory. But with trials and tribulations that came by, Kiyone's stern attitude softened considerably as her blonde partner had saved her life with disregard to her own several times.

Few bonds of camaraderie are closer than that of two partners backing each other in combat.

But the way she viewed her in terms of her frustrations was the way a parent saw their child misbehave like a brat. She was a pain in the ass at times, but how could she possibly hate her?

"I wonder what Mihoshi is up to," Kiyone talked to herself.

She figured since her friend was her boss anyway, there was no one to really chide her on procrastinating on all the bureaucracy that plagued her desk. Kiyone walked out into the bureau's large office, garnering several looks from the other detectives, all male, as she walked over to Mihoshi's office. It wasn't something she thought about conscientiously, but it was a secret source of pride that Kiyone was proud of that almost every red-blooded man in the department saw her unanimously as the most attractive girl in the building and perhaps on the block. That was one thing at least, although useless, that Kiyone had on Mihoshi.

The door to the largest office in the room had "Lieutenant" laser etched into the one piece glass door, much to Kiyone's irritation. She pulled the stainless steel handle and walked inside to see a mess of Cosmo and Vanity Affair magazines, celebrity tabloids, and open bags of cookies and chips. Her right eye twitched when she saw the tanned bimbo behind the desk engrossed with a Game Boy in her hands.

Mihoshi looked up and greeted her partner with a sparkling smile. "Hey Kiyone! I was just about to call you over!"

Kiyone sighed. "Mihoshi, if you have enough time to be playing video games you could help me with the mountain of paperwork you caused me last week." She looked around in surprise, noticing that Mihoshi had no paperwork herself. "In fact, you don't have any files to take care of yourself! Why are you sitting on your ass while I slave away?"

"Come on, Kiyone. I only did a little bit of damage," Mihoshi replied innocently.

"You destroyed the entire parking lot!" Kiyone threw up her hands. "And the worst part is you don't even know how the hell it happened! How is it possible that there was fuel all over the floor?"

Mihoshi sweatdropped. "Uh...it was already there? The fuel fairy?"

"The fuel fairy?" Kiyone sounded confused. "Where the heck did you come up with that one?

The blonde thought hard while stroking her chin. "I don't know."

"The whopper is that somehow despite all that you managed to catch the car thief and all of his buddies and the explosion just HAPPENED to reveal a huge piracy ring across the street that one of the other detectives had been investigating for weeks." Kiyone sat down on a chair in front of the desk, giving her friend a resigned smile. "I don't know if you're just dumb lucky or just plain dumb."

"Hey, that's mean Kiyone!" Mihoshi shed exaggerated tears. "I don't know how to do things as well as you!"

"Forget about it, Mihoshi. What were you going to call me over for, by the way?"

"Oh." Mihoshi lit up and grabbed a fax that was in front of her and handed it to Kiyone. "I just got a fax from the chief of the National Police. I have no idea what he's talking about. So, uh... can you help me Kiyone?"

"How is it someone as air headed as you becomes a supervising lieutenant?" Kiyone tsked as she grabbed the fax and read it.

She frowned immediately.

"Mihoshi, this document says 'Eyes Only' on it. I'm not even supposed to read this."

Mihoshi was already busy munching on some Pocky. "What does that mean?"

Kiyone continued to read anyway, despite the sensitive material. "It means this was top secret. I think this was sent to only high ranking investigators within the National Police."

"Oh? Like who?"

"It means you, dumbass." Kiyone continued to read and her eyes narrowed. "It's saying here that a high ranking government agent is going to be overlooking Okayama and its surrounding areas and that you are to give him your full cooperation and handle any of his affairs if involved in the most discreet manner possible."

"That sounds pretty serious. I wonder if he's cute or if he's some old fart?"

Kiyone ignored her and finished reading, her eyes widening in the process. "It says he's from the JNSA, and his identity is classified. He is armed and autonomous in his authority. Sounds pretty serious, I'll admit. This is a confidential document, Mihoshi. You got to be more responsible for yourself."

Despite what the rest of the world thought, Mihoshi was smart enough to know that Kiyone was much more adept in police work than she was. "But I thought you could handle this so much better, you know Kiyone?"

"If I was a lieutenant," she grumbled under her breath. "But you are right though. It's a good thing you showed me this. We at least have a heads up in case we ever meet this mysterious secret agent."

"Oh, ok." Mihoshi instantly shifted gears. "Hey Kiyone, let's go out. I'm bored."

Here we go again, Kiyone thought. "We're supposed to be here till five o'clock. It's called a full day's work?"

"Oh Kiyone, it's a Saturday! Well I'll just relieve you to freelance for the rest of the day. I look over everyone's timecards here anyway."

Sigh. "I still have to finish all that paperwork you caused."

"Oh, that's not even a problem." Mihoshi opened up her drawer and handed Kiyone a plastic contraption that looked like a large rectangular container.

"What's this?" Kiyone took the item and looked thoroughly confused. Mihoshi was quite unpredictable.

"Washu dropped that off the other day saying you requested it. I just stuck in all my papers inside that machine and pressed the green button and everything was filled out and done! It's super neat-o!"

"And you had it ALL THIS TIME!?" Kiyone yelled, clearly vexed. "I remember asking for this to make my work easier. No wonder you didn't have anything on your desk!"

"Well I wanted to finish up what I had first," Mihoshi pouted.

"Figures," Kiyone replied. She looked at her partner who was smiling sheepishly and looking apologetic, and gave in with a lazy smile herself. "Oh, what the heck. With this I'll be done for the day right and I get to enjoy my weekend?"

Mihoshi's eyes sparkled. "Does that mean we'll go out and play?"

Kiyone nodded. "There's that cute miniskirt that I've been wanting to buy and those shoes we saw the other day in the department store. Your last escapade got us a nice bonus, might as well use it."

"Hooray!" Mihoshi did her own little bouncy dance around the office.

Kiyone headed out the door in the midst of Mihoshi's idiocy and back to her office to clear all those forms off her desk. If only everyone else knew what she knew.

***

April 7th, 2001. 1:45 PM.

16th floor, Loft Department Store food court - Okayama, Japan.

Ranma strolled into a busy and popular restaurant on the top floor of this premium department store. Despite the other choices available among the wide variety of restaurants in the food court, he had a sudden hankering for some American food. He hadn't come here to shop, but was sight seeing anyway and figured the department store would have plenty of good places to eat. To his surprise there was a Red Robin, a familiar American diner he had gone to before in Southern California.

A hostess came up to him immediately as he passed the entry. "Welcome? How many?"

"I'm by myself," Ranma replied, looking at the bustling tables. "Can I be seated at the bar?"

"Certainly! Right this way, sir."

Ranma was led to a mahogany bar surrounded by swiveling high chairs. He thanked the hostess and looked over the menu she left behind. After a quick look, he focused on the bar's beer taps and available selection of drinks.

"Excuse me, bartender?"

A young man with a thick pair of square glasses came up to him while he was cleaning a mug. "Can I get you anything, sir?"

Ranma took a second look at the taps. "Can I get a Newcastle on tap?"

The bartender nodded and promptly fulfilled his order. "Here you go."

"Thanks," Ranma replied, lifting a tall glass of brown ale to his lips. He looked at the menu and did a double take. A pint of imported beer cost 900 yen. Quite an unfair premium, Ranma grumbled to himself.

Okayama was quite a bit smaller than he had imagined, Ranma thought to himself. That much he could accept, since perhaps he was used to the vast glam and glitter of Tokyo. As far as surveillance of the local police in action, Ranma saw nothing more than standard rank and file patrolling and friendly neighborhood community service.

It had only been a few hours, but Okayama seemed to be a relatively clean city to be living in. Perhaps going on the prowl at night would reveal more when the undesirable elements started to gather, but Ranma wasn't pressed into any rush and figured he could spend the next few days taking his sweet time.

***

April 7th, 2001. 1:36 AM.

Floor B3, Loft Department Store garage parking - Okayama, Japan.

Without too much searching, Mihoshi finally found a spot to park her Toyota Avalon in the crowded underground parking lot. It wasn't her car exactly, it was both hers and Kiyone's together as they had split the cost with both their combined paychecks.

To the enormous surprise of everyone she knew, Mihoshi wasn't a bad driver. Getting her driver's license had been a pain in the ass that everyone saw as a predictable disaster. Three destroyed student vehicles, a kidnapping, and a high speed pursuit later, she had been granted her license from her driving academy. Luckily Kiyone was on a temporary transit assignment at the time of her test, so she never asked (nor could the others explain anyway) exactly how all those different disasters somehow culminated into Mihoshi passing her driving exam.

But once she was on the road on her own, she was a remarkably safe and attentive person who managed to astonish people with this paradox in her usually ditzy self. Kiyone was one of those people who attributed this phenomenon to a growing list of oddities that Mihoshi possessed. Being normal over such a random thing was so weird that it was consistent with Mihoshi's personality, Kiyone had commented to her friends.

It certainly wasn't her first talent either, her other was making the best cup of orange mocha frappachino everyone had ever tasted. This was another isolated feat, however. Her attempts at regular black coffee were paramount to sewage in a cup.

"Thanks for buying me this miniskirt, Mihoshi," Kiyone said, beaming. She stepped out of the passenger side and gave herself a look down. "It's so cute!"

The absent minded Mihoshi replied with a happy smile as she stepped out of the car herself and locked the doors with a remote. She was more than glad to be able to go out shopping with her partner and best friend. Ever since the cash started flowing in from their jobs, they had been definitely enjoying the good life.

Kiyone pressed the button for the garage elevator and waited. She was quite pleased with her new clothes, a white Abercrombie cardigan unbuttoned on top to show a new baby blue tee similar to one she had been wearing earlier but with a low cut V. Her denim miniskirt bordered on dangerously short, depending on the ages of judging eyes. To the young and trendy, it hardly blipped a notice in most people's visual radars.

Mihoshi wore a summer casual pink tank top with revealing spaghetti straps overlapping her white bra straps along with a pair of tan slacks. Her natural blonde hair and dark tan definitely contrasted in screaming definition.

"What do you feel like eating, Mihoshi? This one will be on me."

"Hmmm?" Mihoshi had a finger over her lips as a bit of drool seeped out as her mouth started salivating. "How about some American food?"

"American food, huh?" Kiyone heard the elevator's ring and stepped inside. "I think there's a good restaurant in the food court of this mall. Went there once with one of the other officers. Red Robin, was it?"

One of Mihoshi's eyes twinkled. "Another officer? I don't remember going out on an outing here after work?"

Kiyone froze at her slip up. "Uh... I just had dinner after work with someone in the Search and Rescue team."

"Oh?" Mihoshi sported a mischievous grin and her eyes turned beady as she got up close to her partner. "A guy, huh? Who is it?"

"No one you know!" Kiyone sputtered.

"So who'd you go on a date with, Kiyone?" Mihoshi teased. It was extremely rare that her partner ever associated with men, and she always managed to keep to herself over her private affairs.

Kiyone pushed Mihoshi away, visibly annoyed. "It's no one you know, I swear. Damn it, Mihoshi." Whenever a rare occasion came up for Kiyone to improve her social life, Mihoshi always meddled with her. "The guy was a real weirdo, and he wouldn't stop talking about climbing his next big mountain in the Himalayas or something else dumb to bore me to death. I just couldn't stand him."

"Oh, you're pickier than I am. How much longer do you think you can stay single?" Mihoshi giggled, leaning on the wall of the elevator.

Having a companion of the opposite sex wasn't exactly a top priority in her mind, but Kiyone knew that Mihoshi liked to tease her once in a while about men and that it never failed to annoy her. Was it her fault that every guy she seemed to come in contact with was either a tool or just a real boor?

The two arrived on the food court floor soon enough and walked into the colorful red and white striped entry of Red Robin's. Mihoshi was surprised at how popular the place was with all the tables crowded and heaping plates of delicious food everywhere.

Kiyone asked the hostess for seats at the bar to avoid a long wait for a table or a booth.

"This is a very nice place, is the food good too?" Mihoshi asked.

"I've never been to America before so I can't compare. But I was told it's a real restaurant from America. It tasted really good though. It doesn't taste like it's been through a Japanese cultural crash course," Kiyone said, taking her seat on a high stool along the bar.

She accidentally bumped the man next to her as he was drinking from his beer mug. "Oops! Excuse me."

The guy wiped his mouth with a napkin to get some of the beer that dribbled down his chin. "Oh, not a problem. It's kind of crowded here after all," he said, looking around. Even the bar was getting packed, and the two young ladies to his right were taking the only two consecutively open seats.

Kiyone gave a very slight bow of the head as she turned away to look at her menu. She paused very subtly as she glanced at her neighbor's odd pigtail, and his steely gray-blue eyes. The pigtail was kind of silly but for some reason fit really well with his messy hair, but the blue eyes were odd and definitely striking for a Japanese man.

Ranma returned to looking at his menu after the girl next to him nudged him while he was drinking his brown ale. His eyes wandered as the hair colors of both these women were a bit striking compared to most people who dyed their hair. The one next to him had a pretty ridiculous looking teal splashed getup that looked quite brash, but on a second glance it was way too even and solid from root to tip. He almost did a double take in surprise, as it looked deceivingly natural.

The woman in question felt a tingle over her shoulder as she saw an eye snaking up and down on her. "Excuse me, what are you looking at?" she asked, a hint of disgust in her voice.

"Ay, sorry." Ranma broke out of his fix and put a hand behind his head. "I'm sorry, I was just looking at your hair and couldn't help but wonder if that was real or fake. I thought it was dyed, but man!"

"It's real," Kiyone said, growing suspicious. She matched her eyes with his, a corner of her lip curling. His eyes weren't the only unique feature, he was dashingly handsome as well. "Sorry pal, but it's just kind of weird that you were staring at me like that."

Ranma held up his hands. "Again I apologize, I was just curious that's all." He got a look at her friend as well, a tanned buxom blond with a big wavy and bouncy do. "But that's real interesting, it's rare to see hair color like this that's natural."

Kiyone shifted in her seat and raised a brow. "I don't ever see Japanese men with blue eyes either, and I know you're not wearing contacts," she said, eliciting a look of surprise from Ranma. Some of her senses as an evolved humanoid were far keener than the simpler humans on Earth. "Your pigtail though," she said chuckling. "That's a refreshing change from all these rad hairstyles that are trendy around here."

Ranma grabbed his beer and swiveled his high chair to face this woman, who was just barely sparking some playful ire. "Hey, I've been used to this hair style for as long as I've known," he replied, flicking his pigtail. "And if you don't mind me asking, you girls look Asian but you don't seem like you're from anywhere around here. Foreigners?"

Something from the corner of her eye caught Kiyone's attention. "You could say something like that," she replied.

"Yeah, we're not from this world," Mihoshi piped in, focusing her attention away from the menu.

Kiyone casually waved away her friend from Ranma, who was looking confused. "She loves to mess around." She grabbed something from her purse. "But you know, I have to ask you something though..."

"What is it?" Ranma said, wondering what was on her mind. His eyes were wide open when he saw her whip out a large folding knife that flipped out the blade with the push of a button.

Kiyone smirked. "You know, most people wouldn't have noticed that tiny bulge at your waistline. It's hard to recognize the outlines of a handgun concealed under clothing." She flipped open her badge holder with police ID attached. "Did you know guns are illegal in this country?"

Ranma breathed a feigned sigh of relief, holding in the desire to laugh. "Wow! You are definitely an interesting one aren't you! You're like the catch of the day," he said, finally chuckling.

This actually amused the teal haired detective, as she continued to smile. "What the hell are you laughing at? I'm putting you under arrest", she said, her voice low and casual so to not cause a ruckus in the restaurant. Mihoshi was already standing behind her back, ready to back up her friend and partner. Guns were exceedingly rare in this country, but a weapon so well concealed couldn't have been an airsoft model, especially in a holster. Such a situation had to be held seriously by Kiyone, as she didn't like weighing risks that poked away at her gut instinct.

"Well, I'll let you in on a little secret." He slowly pulled out a leather wallet of his own and flipped it open for the two policewomen. "I'm an NSA agent in the area who's just having lunch in town. I'm no criminal, and you couldn't take me in even if you wanted to anyway."

Mihoshi looked puzzled and Kiyone had her eyes bugging out at the sight of the badge and ID. The memo that had been given to Mihoshi DID say that there would be an armed NSA agent in town, was it just Kiyone's luck that she found him and tried to apprehend him on the same day?

"Sumimasen!" Kiyone blurted out, flustered. She put away her knife and police ID back into her purse.

"There's nothing to be sorry about," Ranma assured. "I'm just as surprised that you're a cop in this city, who'd have thought? I'm amazed you could spot out something like that even though I concealed it pretty well." Ranma was genuinely impressed. He was looking down on his right hip, and his Sig Sauer P226 was barely imprinting out on his polo tee. Unbelievably sharp senses, he thought.

Kiyone's trained eye from years of GP service far outclassed whatever the Japanese police instructed when it came to weapons and duty concealment.

"I'm Ranma, by the way. Ranma Saotome."

Kiyone blinked. There was an open palm in front of her. "I'm Kiyone Makibi," she said, grabbing his hand to shake it.

Mihoshi stuck her hand across Kiyone's chest with a bubbly smile. "I'm her friend, Mihoshi. Mihoshi Kuramitsu."

"Oh?" He shook her hand next. "Are you a cop too?"

"We're both detectives in the Okayama Police Department. I'm a sergeant, she's actually my boss and lead detective as a lieutenant."

Ranma whistled. "Wow! How old are you? You look way too young to be a shot caller!"

"Look who's talking," Kiyone said, annoyed that she had to mention that her airhead partner was her boss. "We received a memo from the top brass saying a guy like you was going to be around town. But I never would've guessed in a million years a high ranking federal agent like yourself would be so young."

"We're both 26 years old," Mihoshi replied to Ranma. She wanted to join in on this interesting guest of theirs. "And you're definitely not an old fart, I see," she said, winking.

That earned a blink from Ranma and an exasperated sigh from Kiyone.

"Well," Ranma said, his eyes focused on Kiyone's. "You're probably going to hate me for this, but I'm a year younger than both of you."

She'd heard of academic and musical prodigies before, but never a law enforcement prodigy. And Mihoshi didn't count. "I guess we're just feeding each other one surprise after another, huh?"

"I'm actually wondering how you knew about my presence in this city? I was told my identity would be kept confidential to only high-rankers?" he asked, raising a brow.

Ick. "Well, Mihoshi is my CO and she's my friend and all, so she kinda told me." She turned red at having to use Mihoshi of all people as an excuse for getting out of a tight spot. "We're not in trouble, are we?"

After holding a serious look on his face for a few moments he finally huffed and leaned back in his chair, shaking his head and grinning. "I'm not an asshole, I'm just messing with you. You two seem nice enough, I'm not going to rat you out and write a report over it."

Kiyone breathed a sigh of relief. "Our lips are sealed from the other officers, I promise."

A waitress came to interrupt them. "Can I take your orders or would you like some more time?"

"I'm ready," Ranma chirped.

"Me too!" Mihoshi said.

Kiyone was the only one who had been bantering back and forth and hadn't even taken a look at the menu. "I'll just have whatever she's having, thanks."

"Can I buy you two a drink? How about we start over, hmm?"

----------------

"Four years and you call yourself a veteran? Getting a little full of yourself, don't you think?"

Ranma tried his best to look offended. "I didn't exactly sit around on my ass and do nothing. I swear, I was a busy man!"

A little chit chat and a few beers later Kiyone had loosened up enough to toy with this new acquaintance of hers. So far the guy had been easy going enough to tell her that he was an ex-cop from a different country. As far as he knew, she was a born and bred career woman with a decorated tour of duty.

And so it happened that a little bit of a pissing match was ignited between two powerful egos.

"I bet you're real proud of yourself aren't you? You got hired for a gig like this and you're a year younger than me," Kiyone said, gulping her beer.

Ranma did the same with his mug, but sipped it to enjoy the bitter hops. "You're a really funny gal, I just met you and you're grilling me like I'm fresh meat. Although it's funny how you say all that about me, yet your friend over there is the same age as you and yet she's a lieutenant?"

Kiyone blinked and turned around to look at Mihoshi, who had gladly accepted Ranma's earlier offer for a drink and had taken quite a liberty to it. She was in the restaurant arcade playing Marvel vs. Capcom 2 with a couple of young kids. Her eyes were hazy and face slightly flushed from being buzzed.

She too had taken the offer for a drink, but not as many Mihoshi. Her tongue was caught short at Ranma's comment, as it meant explaining her unlucky fortune in relation to Mihoshi's fabulous luck.

Her hesitance and lack of reply was fully evident by the smile that curled onto Ranma's face as he was having just as much fun messing with her. His eyes definitely had their fair share of exposure to incredibly beautiful women from both sides of the Pacific. But this little catch was one of those rare fish in the sea that had managed to give him some attitude and a spar of wits with a delectable trace of sauciness.

This woman wasn't just a pretty piece of ass. That was far too crass for any man with the slightest trace of dignity. She was breathtakingly fine.

The girl's mannerisms, subtle sexuality, and the cool and collected air she gave off were just taunting Ranma without him even consciously realizing it. The vibes she let off had a subliminal message to them, and it tapped a part of him that hadn't been disturbed in years. "Fat chance of getting near this," it rang.

With the right combination of alcohol and competitive spirit, Ranma was spitting his game without even knowing it.

"Mihoshi is one of those average people in life you meet, and they're real friendly, goofy, and can't seem to do anything right when you're just hanging around. But whenever she's put to the test... somehow she screws up into succeeding beyond your wildest dreams. That's all I can really describe about her," Kiyone said lamely.

"But you're there to go along for the ride, ain't ya?" Ranma said, looking at her from the corner of his eye. "You sure make it sound like you got the raw end of the deal. But, damn." He clicked his tongue. "You realize you're 26, a fox, and you're a detective in a major city?"

"You trying to flatter me?" Kiyone fluttered, caught by surprise.

Ranma completely ignored her. "So what do you do with your partner slash boss, over there? It's early in the afternoon and you guys are chillin' here at a bar?"

The slightly inebriated GP decided to humor him. "For an EX-detective you sure are dense. Think about it, tough guy." She gestured her arms in confusion "If you can't figure out that it's obviously our day off, I don't know what to tell you. Last time I checked we're detectives? You know, we investigate for a living?"

Ranma seamlessly took the reply with rolled eyes and a pensive face. "Sorry, I almost mistook you for a comedian. That was the funniest thing I've ever heard without laughing," he replied with a sardonic roll of the tongue. "I was just trying to make some small talk."

Despite all her defensive puns and plays, Kiyone's control betrayed her as she let a warm smile form ever so subtly at the corners of her lips.

"Well, Saotome-san." Kiyone left a large bill covering her and Mihoshi's expenses onto the tab. "Thank you ever so much for the drinks and just such a lovely conversation," she finished out that last part with an equally biting tone of sarcasm, albeit free of mischief. "I suspect we'll be crossing paths in our line of work?"

"I suppose we might," Ranma said with a hand stuck out. His words were carefully chosen to dance around with the recipient.

Kiyone's smile didn't waver as she shook his hand, not missing a beat. "I didn't think a bureaucrat like you would be a fielder."

The past year or so of his affairs be damned, something triggered inside of him. "Well then, how about I get your number? We can keep each other up to date, yeah?"

"Oh, not a prob." Kiyone grabbed her wallet inside her purse and pulled out a business card with her name and work phone number.

Ranma saw the twinkle in her eye as he just realized they'd both been playing off of each other and she had managed to outmaneuver him. He reached out and wordless grabbed the card. His left hand had been in his pocket ready to pull out to get her cell or personal number.

"You can reach me in my office nine to five, on weekdays and sometimes on weekends. Now if you'll excuse me." She turned around gracefully and gave a wave. "Ja ne."

With the card in his hand all he could do was watch as the teal haired bombshell he had just socialized with for the past hour was walking away in front of him without even a look back. He chuckled as he saw her grab Mihoshi forcefully and yanked her away from the arcade console she had been glued to.

He peered down to see the card in his hand. "Keep an eye out on the Okayama Police Department and get to know how it operates, huh?" Ranma said, remembering his orders from the morning.

-------------

"I get to have him first."

It was seldom that Mihoshi managed to surprise Kiyone without destroying something. "What was that?"

Mihoshi giggled, and played with steering wheel without moving it. "I'm talking about Ranma. The NSA agent who came in town. He is soooo cute!"

Kiyone didn't know why but her brow raised in reaction and she felt speechless for a moment. "The guy buys you a drink, you get a little hammered and you like him right away?"

Of course Mihoshi had sobered up before getting into the driver's seat of the car. The topic of Ranma was not brought up once as the two resumed their shopping in the lower floors of the mall to sober up before they hit the road.

"Well, I thought he'd be a stuffy old fart," the blond replied nasally. "But wouldn't you know? He's pretty darn handsome, don't you think Kiyone? And he's pretty cool too."

It wasn't the handsome part that again bogged her head, but the last comment. "Yeah, he's a pretty cool guy from what I saw," she said.

And it wasn't often that men fazed Kiyone's focused mind and their sweet talking cut through her dense fog of bullshit resistance. But she knew at the end of that pleasant encounter that there was some interest from the pigtailed guy she met when he had slipped in a request for her phone number. Playing the game as it was without even consciously putting up the effort, she gave him something else instead which was admittedly far above what most men got from her.

Far from being a novice when it came to interaction with the other sex, Kiyone had seen a fair amount of guys that tried to shine their way into her personal realm. But this was one of the few shooting stars that crossed her path that gave her a little tease of the light show and she unknowingly followed for some more.

Mihoshi really wasn't as dumb and clueless as she let on and everyone assumed. "You know Kiyone, I haven't seen you get along with another guy other than Tenchi in so long? And you were talking about how you only meet so many dorky and boring guys."

"So? He was a cop. And we were just having cop talk. It's like talking to the guys at work."

"That wasn't what I saw," Mihoshi said, a gleam in her left eye. "And besides, I still like Tenchi so much more."

"I'm glad, because-"

"GOTCHA Kiyone! Glad because I was joking about Saotome-kun?"

Kiyone's face flushed red and she looked steamed. "I don't know what you're talking about Mihoshi! Just keep your eyes on the road!"

"Whoops!" Mihoshi quickly corrected the car back into her lane, narrowly missing an oncoming car.

Kiyone's red hot visage was hidden under her teal hair, and she was too flustered to care about almost crashing at Mihoshi's hands. "Let's just drop it, Mihoshi. I'm not sprung over him or anything."

That's what you say, but not what you think, Mihoshi happily thought to herself. She turned on the radio and started singing softly to a pop song that was playing on the station.

It wasn't long before Kiyone sighed and joined her and filled in on the harmonic vocals.

***

April 8th, 2001. 10:52 AM.

Miho-Kiyo Apartment, Unit 215 - Okayama, Japan.

The rumbling train tracks weren't exactly the most welcoming wake up call in the world but it was a definite reminder of home.

Home was a shabby second rate apartment on the second floor of a small resident complex right on the outskirts of town, conveniently close to the expressway interchange and a short drive to the Masaki home in the mountains. Despite outward appearances the inhabitants kept it clean (at least one of them did) and cozy with all sorts of creature comforts.

Kiyone had long debated whether to move out into a better place, but the rent was stress free and it felt comfortable living there. And comfort was something you only found when you felt at home.

The duo spent their only guaranteed day off (as per their department's standards for their supervisory positions, short of an urgent situation) at their own slow pace. Mihoshi oddly enough always woke up just a few minutes before Kiyone on Sundays and prepared her usual orange mocha frappachino in two large bowl sized espresso cups. She had them ready on the table right as her partner rose out of her slumber with the sweet aroma of zest and roasted coffee beans wafting around her nose.

"Good morning, Mihoshi."

"Good morning, Kiyone!"

Kiyone grabbed the remote for the TV and flipped on the big flat panel that was snugly fit against the wall of the compact apartment. Still under the covers, she crawled towards the table in the kitchen and reached for her cup of coffee. Mihoshi wordlessly handed it to her without taking her eyes off the celebrity tabloid she was immersed in as Kiyone's hands reached just shy of the table.

She gratefully accepted the cup. "Mmm, I still don't know how you get the flavor done just right," Kiyone purred as she sipped the frothy drink with both her hands cradled around the warm ceramic. Starbucks could learn a lesson as her blend never got old. Kiyone flipped through the channels until she settled on the Universal News Network, a special hack fix accomplished by a satellite transmitter that reached broadcasts outside of the solar system.

"Hey, do you want to go visit Tenchi today?"

Kiyone looked over, and shook her head. "You can go if you want. I think I'm just going to relax today, maybe head over to the station. You can take the car if you want."

"Aww, why do you want to go back to work?" Mihoshi pouted.

"I'm not going to work, work. I just want to poke around for a bit, see how our detectives are doing with their other cases."

Mihoshi was above her, but the buck stopped there in the Detectives Bureau. Kiyone had just as much authority in looking after the officers below her and keeping track of their case loads. It wasn't much of a surprise that Kiyone's sense of responsibility went beyond her partner and spread her efforts to those around her.

"I guess I'll go by myself then. Ryoko, Ayeka, and Washu all said they were going to go on a night out with drinking and karaoke! You sure you don't want to come?"

"You have work tomorrow morning and I know you're going to be late, so don't overdo it," Kiyone nagged.

--------------

"Not exactly the Ritz," Ranma mused to himself.

He drove by the shabby apartment complex without stopping and looked up the two personnel sheets he printed out earlier in the morning. Kiyone Makibi and Mihoshi Kuramitsu were two individuals with records cleaner than a secret agent and a complete lack of history with their associated social security numbers. If they were living together he figured their combined salary would be more than enough to afford a much nicer place to live than an old remote apartment, but it wasn't surprising as some people just liked to be thrifty.

But their spotless records were actually quite an enigma, and all corresponding reference material for the supposed transfer to Okayama from another obscure department on the other side of the country suspiciously lacked contacts and recommendations. Nonetheless everything was official. Their appointment was completely done by pick and application, and the Okayama PD apparently hired them with no questions asked.

This kept getting better and better, Ranma thought. He plotted a course on his navigation system back home and decided to go around again on foot and with public transportation. His vehicle of choice was a fun but foolhardy one when it came to anything remotely covert.

When he got to his apartment he went in for a quick change out of his sweats. He grabbed a black flat cap to tuck his pigtail under and he tilted it just enough to shade his eyes. He donned an almost nightshade navy blue Benetton jacket with a white collared shirt underneath and a pair of tan Dockers with a crisp white pair of K-Swiss tennies. Satisfied with the way he looked in the mirror as he strolled back out, he decided to give a secret visit to the Okayama police station.

--------------

"I'll see you later Kiyone!"

"Bye," Kiyone replied as she closed the apartment door.

She gave her back a good stretch accompanied by a mighty yawn as her teal tank top rose up to reveal her toned abs.

Breakfast was a light affair for her, and she got herself ready to go for a long jog all the way to the station. Her GP required athletics didn't come for free, and she always kept some of her wardrobe in her private office for her convenience.

With a fanny pack at her waist and some thick comfortable sweats, Kiyone locked the doors to her apartment and started stretching her arms and hips as she made her way down the stairs. The pack had just the bare essentials, her phone, a combination wallet with police ID and badge holder, keys, her GP laser yoyo, and her ubiquitous standard issue GP pistol.

It was a lengthy run through vacant hills and some various parks that she used to avoid the city traffic and get some fresher air into her lungs, but this was quiet time for herself without having anyone clinging to her. She did this a few times a week when Mihoshi was just an absolute pain to wake up, and left her the keys to the car as she simply jogged to work and hitched a ride back home at the end of the day.

She was greeted by the women at the front desk, who formally saluted her and Mihoshi every day they walked through the front doors. Kiyone was particularly admired by her female subordinates for her stature in the detectives bureau and for being level headed compared to the quirky lieutenant. She cooled down to a walk to catch her breath by the time she had reached the station so she wouldn't be panting in front of everyone, and all the officers who passed by recognized her right away by the orange bandanna that was matted with sweat on her forehead. She casually walked up the stairs to make way to her office to take some fresh clothes to the locker room and showers.

----------------

It didn't quite occur to Ranma that in all the years he had lived in Japan he had never ever seen the inside of a Japanese police station before.

Sure, he had spent his entire childhood and a good portion of his teens traveling with his father and taking part in more than a few unscrupulous deeds but not once were they caught and arrested for it.

The front desk women were friendly enough, typical robotic drones who greeted him in the rather surprisingly large lobby with the utmost sincerity and zeal. If the uniforms weren't there it would have been difficult to distinguish them from the same women who greeted you at most department stores. Same synchronized voices, smiles, and static bows.

In contrast to police stations in Los Angeles, this station was kept very clean and looked downright hospitable even. The rows of plastic seats and a few padded sofas in the large lobby were occupied by several people there to report their minor grievances and problems.

He relaxed himself in one of the corner chairs and waited around just like everyone else so he wouldn't attract any attention. He idly listened to what the locals had come in to report and watched the pitter patter of the officers moving through the lobby.

Most of the residents who came in were complaining of minor problems of noisy kids or cars driving to fast on certain neighborhood streets. In maybe an hour's worth of time, the most serious complaint he heard was that of a shop owner reporting shoplifters. Ho hum.

Even his thoroughly conditioned, cynical self had to smile at this remarkable display of public servitude. Despite sitting around the whole novelty of the everyday things that were transpiring in front of him amused him plenty. The officers of the Okayama PD were kind, prompt, and completely professional. In contrast to an LAPD desk jockey, where one found any excuse possible to avoid filling out a minor report. This, even Ranma had been guilty of.

A few of the plain clothed men he'd seen in suits interested him, as they seemed most likely to be investigative officers in the building. Instead of following them, he decided to go exploring on his own and calmly slipped out of the lobby and into one of the many hallways in the building unbeknownst to the lax patrol women at the desk. There were free guided tours available in groups by appointment at the front desk, but he didn't want to bother.

Each corridor was fairly wide with a lot of the large rooms occupied by uniformed officers. The building was a four story setup with a main open staircase in the middle and two other narrow ones flanking both ends of every floor. The first floor was mostly the lobby with situational rooms for revolving patrols. It also housed a small interim jail wing connected to a small visitor's ward. The second floor was split between an indoor training dojo, the men and women's locker rooms, and a very small indoor shooting range. The third floor was the public cafeteria as well as a system of large board and meeting rooms and media archives. The top floor divided the personnel, with a traffic bureau, detectives bureau, armory locker, and a Tokubetsu section. The last one was simply a combination of small support functions of the police that included search and rescue, passive crisis negotiators, public relations, and other factions that did not work independently like the traffic and detectives bureau.

Ranma snooped around without hassle, as the trick to being in an unfamiliar place was to act as familiar as possible. Women who walked by carrying trays of tea or motorbike cops who were passing him in the hallways gave no notice to him as he seemed to confidently navigate his way around everything and didn't give off telltale signs of being a Curious George. He was an expert in blending his presence anonymously even to the observant eye.

He didn't bother to stop in any one place to observe, and merely walked by everything to just take a glimpse of things to prevent being caught. The detectives bureau was on the opposite side of the traffic bureau's, similar in size but with a decent chunk separated for interrogation rooms. He took a quick peek through the glass door as the blinds covered everything else from the hallway. To his great surprise there was only one person, Kiyone, walking around in jeans and a white and yellow baby tee with a cordless hair dryer blowing on her just washed, damp hair.

Ranma didn't stick around and quickly walked up to the rooftop to escape the building. Using his martial arts prowess he deftly leapt into a tall tree and jumped down the branches gracefully out of anyone's view and landed on the grassy ground without a sound and walked off the police compound.

But his cursed fate, always having the last laugh on him, decided to turn the sprinklers on just as he stepped off the grass with just enough of a cold spray to the back of his neck to transform him.

"......"

-----------------

Kiyone stepped out the building with a breath of relief and feeling wonderfully refreshed.

"You know, I could've sworn I saw a guy come in here earlier wearing the exact same clothes."

"Yeah, I thought so too! And a cute girl like that would never wear an outfit like that!"

"It looked so hideous for someone so pretty!"

Kiyone wondered what in the world the girls at the front desk were gossiping about.

"Thank you ladies, I'm going to take off."

"Yes maam, have a nice day Sergeant Makibi!" the front desk chirped in unison.

"I wonder why she walked into the bathroom after asking us for a cup of hot water?" one of the girls continued in the background.

Kiyone paid no attention and walked out into the nice spring weather, in view of the many cherry trees blossoming in early April. The nice thing about Earth was that it had its share of beautiful natural phenomena.

"Fancy meeting you here."

"Huh?" Kiyone blinked and saw Ranma on the sidewalk outside of the station gates.

"I've actually forgotten it's been maybe nine years since the last time I saw cherry blossoms in the spring."

Kiyone smiled. "It's a bit of a surprise to see you again. What you doing here?"

"I was just walking around, didn't realize this was the police station," he lied. "I was admiring the sakura just like you."

"Oh really?" Kiyone suspiciously eyed his hair and then looked up and around.

"What are you doing?" Ranma asked.

She looked at him questionably. "Did it just rain or something? Why is your hair all wet?"

"Ah," he glanced at her nervously. "I was just walking by a park and one of the sprinklers went haywire and splashed me."

"Oh, I see."

"What are you up to today, detective?"

Kiyone looked up with her hands behind her head. "Well, I just stopped by the station to see what my subordinates were up to. I was about to head home I guess."

"Would you like to take a walk with me then? I'm still getting used to this city."

He gestured for her to come in front of him with an obnoxious Cheshire grin and an assumptive attitude.

Kiyone's expression reflected the same amount of attitude right back at him with understated derision. "You're a big boy, I'm sure you can find your way around. Have a nice day, Agent Saotome." Taking the bus to Tenchi's seemed like a pretty good idea all of a sudden, she thought.

Ranma spent a good amount of time the rest of the day wondering if he was a chump.

***

April 10th, 2001. 3:50 PM.

Apt No. 420, Senzai Haru Villa - Okayama, Japan.

"You're a fucking chump! There's no other way to put it man."

Ranma grew increasingly exasperated with the phone. "You're not exactly helping, Al."

"I'm just saying, man. And I'm not dissing you or anything, but it took you a trip across the world to finally get you chasing after women again. All that shit you talked about being a has-been ladies man and this is the best you can come up with?"

Ranma heard a rustle over the phone and heard a bop and a series of grunts and punches over the line. "Hello?"

"Hey, Saotome. It's McClane. Don't mind what this son of a bitch says."

"Thanks McClane, you know once you get him started..."

"I know, I know. He has a tornado of a mouth and you just need to punch him to get him to shut the fuck up."

"Thanks."

"So how've you been?"

"Things are good here, glad you guys got my emails. The agency treats me real well. I'm living like a king."

"That's good, Ranma. Real good. I'm not going to dig through your personal life like this jerk has, but I certainly hope whatever it is you're doing you're doing well. You're a big boy, I'm sure you can find your way around."

Ranma winced at an imaginary echo. "Yeah, thanks man."

"And I'll be damned if I don't get a hello too, Saotome."

He recognized that thick as molasses Southern accent immediately. "What's up Vince," Ranma said smiling.

"Why Saotome, you madcap! Well I do admit things certainly haven't been as dandy without you around, but I reckon you have your hands full on your side of the mill. Make sure you play the right hand when it comes to women. How's it feel bein' legal at home?"

"Oh, I'm sure it'll get interesting sooner or later. But I'll enjoy the peace for now. I hear you might be promoted to lieutenant by the end of the month, is that right?"

Ranma could almost hear him smirk on the other end.

"That's the rumor."

"Is it really okay for you guys to call me like this when you're on a stakeout?" Ranma sighed.

"The taxpayer's dollar can go ever so far in the pursuit of our amusement especially when we are protecting said taxpayer 'round the clock."

Ranma heard the phone rustle again and could tell it was McClane getting control of the car phone in the undercover car they were packed in. He had to chuckle at the least with Vince's crude comment. They had called him while on a surveillance assignment in the dead of night, in an effort to relieve their tedium.

"Never mind the Cavalier Pistoleer, Ranma. We've got a vacation coming up in a few weeks, maybe a month. We were wondering if we can visit you for a few days."

"Sure!" Ranma brightened up almost immediately. "You can crash at my place if you want. You guys really want to blow a grand for plane tickets?"

"Never been to Japan before, so why not? We're not even going to stay there for a week."

"If you want, you're more than welcome." Ranma checked the time. "Alright guys, I need to head out. I'll talk to you guys later, I'll give you a heads up."

"Sure thing partner, take care."

Ranma tossed the cell phone onto the sofa and slid his hands through his hair. He cleaned off the table of empty bottles of sake and green Heinies along with trays of takeout sushi. Grabbing the last beer he had left in the fridge, he popped it with his thumb and blew away the bottlenecked foam as he sat down to read the rest of his files.

So this beautiful teal haired woman had managed to play with him yet again, and it struck a buried chord in Ranma's pride that hadn't been unearthed in years. Some things changed, but some definitely stayed the same.

Further investigation into the pasts of the bubbly Mihoshi and steely Kiyone confirmed some of his suspicions and further conflicted with his instincts. His authority to perform background checks at his bidding allowed him to further entertain his immense curiosity with the two women. A check with their former department had revealed official and filed documents, but brief personnel interviews revealed that no one ever heard of them or knew what he was talking about. Ranma didn't push it and left them to be, and moved on to study their current resumes.

Their reputation at the Okayama PD was stellar and inspirational as they had managed to break the patriarchal barrier of authority with their proven competence as police women. Their reports, references, and collars all matched up to what a real police jacket should look like instead of being perfect shells.

This was where Ranma's instincts had a conflict of interest with his logical train of thought. Common sense told him that the facts didn't match up and the two women fabricated their reports in a tour de force falsification of monumental proportions. Such willful and carefully planted backgrounds were not something to be taken lightly, and it was not unreasonable to suspect that these women were moles or saboteurs of ill motive. Assuming the worst was something that got you in trouble, but assuming the best of something was something that still got you in trouble and maybe get you killed too.

His sixth sense however felt that such an exemplary record was also just as troubling, as there was no sign of bias in either detectives' track records in an impressive six months worth of assignments. When an outsider handled your jacket it was clear for anyone to see patterns in your behavior and prejudice in your judgment. Ranma wasn't free of this either, but he was guilty of no crime. Lieutenant Hanna had been livid with him over his pre-SIS days in the LAPD for covering up for crimes of certain Mexican gangs and protecting valuable CIs at the expense of other investigations. This was not an isolated thing, it was a complex game of give and take played by many officers and criminals alike.

Many, but not all officers of course, Ranma reminded himself. He had been a deep undercover detective at times and played in a heavily pipelined bureaucracy where situations forced him to cover his own collars. A relatively low profile city like Okayama and its close knit police force didn't have to work through such complications because they were so orderly and antiseptic in their operation. If Kiyone or Mihoshi was working for a corporate raider, drug tycoon, or syndication, their records certainly didn't show any hint of it.

Ranma's mind was clouded with the image of damp teal hair as he thought of his duty to continue following around this beautifully intriguing woman.

-----------------

With a change of clothes cleverly hidden using rudimentary skills borrowed from an old friend, for once Ranma thanked herself for at least attempting to learn Mousse's seemingly ridiculous talent. In cursed form she at least attempted to look the part without catching spry comments of being a tomboy. She was pretty yes, and the height was tough to hide. But in a sea of enough people without any makeup and her hair covering her face it was easy to just walk past with subtlety and get by without attracting attention.

Dressed in neutral colors, Ranma followed Kiyone and Mihoshi's car as it pulled out of the station. It wasn't difficult at all to keep up, as traffic at this time had surged so badly that movement was at a crawl. Before long they pulled out into an alley and parallel parked in an open spot along a bustling entertainment district.

She looked confused at they walked inside a karaoke bar.

Ranma scratched her head. "Maybe they were going inside to meet a contact?"

Before she could follow them in a couple of young men were in front of her blocking her way.

"Hey, beautiful. Would you like to have a drink with us?"

"Or would you like to grab a bite to eat?"

"We'll show you a good time!"

Ranma put on her best behavior and gave them a shy smile. "I'm sorry guys, I'm actually on my way to meet my boyfriend. Sorry!"

The three miserably tried to mask the rejection on their faces and politely stepped out of the way to let her on her way without further hassle. Once she got inside, she told the host that she was already waiting for another guy in one of the rooms and he let her in without further question.

The rooms thankfully had a small oval glass opening in the doors and Ranma found the duo in their rooms singing and laughing. Odder yet, she thought. Were they waiting for someone then?

Ranma peeked through the window without showing herself and was surprised when someone bumped her from behind.

"Oh, I'm so sorry miss! Didn't mean to do that. Are you alright?"

"I'm fine," she said, annoyed. She turned around and saw a group of three guys and a couple of a girls with them. They looked like college students.

"Hey, miss! If you don't mind would you like to join us? We've got three guys and girls and could use one more."

"One per guy isn't enough-"

Before Ranma could protest the host and owner came around to see why so many people were standing around. "Can you folks please stop blocking the hallway?" He looked over to Ranma. "Is this who you were waiting for, miss?"

Caught in her own trap, Ranma dejectedly nodded and the group quickly made their way into a large room. This one had a full glass door with a two way mirror showing a clear view of the hall. At least she could keep an eye on either of the detectives if they left or someone entered.

"What's your name by the way, babe?"

Ranma gave the guy a displeased look and smirked. "It's Jennifer."

"Jeh-nee-fa?" one of the guys responded with his best attempt at English. He was fixated on the tall beauty in front of him as she was easily the best looking girl.

The girls were giggling at their new guest and one of them picked up a mike to start off the karaoke.

"Would you like to have anything, Jennifer?" It was the original guy who had asked her to join this shindig. "Whiskey? Beer? Snacks?"

"A little early to be drinking and partying, don't you think?" Ranma replied.

"Oh, that's why we're going to be going on all night! And we have more reason to celebrate since a gorgeous gal like you joined us!"

Ranma shrugged and sat in her spot, keeping an eye out on the hallway. She just sat by and watched as the people in front of her seemed to enjoy themselves and the guys weren't overly obnoxious as they tried to goad her to sing along. They were quite well behaved in fact, as none of them had tried any cheesy pickup lines or flirted with her physically.

A waitress walked in with a plate of assorted finger foods and a couple of bottles of Kirin and a pint of Suntory Whiskey.

Ranma grabbed the whiskey with interest. "What the heck is this? You expect to feed us this cheap shit?"

"Well it gets you buzzed, and we've always drank that," one of the guys said, confused.

The other girls looked at Ranma curiously as they were still college girls and didn't possess a fine taste for spirits like an experienced drinker.

"Excuse me," Ranma said to the waitress before she left. "Do you carry scotch?"

"Why yes, we do."

Ranma smiled coyly. "What do you have in stock?"

"Chivas Regal, Johnny Walker Black and Gold, Ballentine's..."

"How much for a fifth of Chivas 18?"

"That'll be 20,000 yen, maam. And we offer the cheapest prices in town."

The men balked as the other girls looked interested. Ranma gave them a seductive wink and decided to have fun for her troubles. "We'll take that, thank you."

As soon as the waitress scurried away the men did a double take.

"20,000 yen! That's something our fathers would drink!"

"Well I've always been used to the finer things in life," Ranma replied cutely. "If I want to get nice and loose might as well drink with some class, no?"

The girls nodded in support as they took on prissy fronts as the guys hesitated. One of them finally sighed.

"It's cool, I got more than enough. We're here to have fun, right?"

"Lucky for us you're rich, Seita!"

"Well let's not waste anytime," Ranma said, already pouring glasses of beer for everyone. "Kanpai!"

The time passed by rather quickly as beer glasses were filled and emptied rather quickly with each progressing song. Ranma relaxed a bit and had her attention focused on her original targets, getting up every once in a while to go to the bathroom as an excuse to check their window. They seemed to be doing what she was pretending to be doing right now; having fun singing and drinking at a karaoke bar.

Ranma indulged her new acquaintances just once by singing an American song as she was drinking most of the expensive scotch while cradling it in a glass on the rocks. She enjoyed it a little more than she intended, as her hosts were quite impressed by "Jennifer's" English talent.

"Well let's bust out something to make the night more interesting," Seita said as he pulled out a metal tin onto the glass table.

The guys sat down immediately and one of the girls was singing a slow song to herself in the dim lit room. Ranma looked on with hazy eyes in curiosity as he opened up the container.

She almost held her breath as the one who had offered to pay for this outing, Seita, used his credit card to scoop out onto the table a pinch of coarse white powder and proceeded to cut it up and grind it.

The other girls looked just as curious and were staring with fascination at the stuff.

"Is that what I think it is?" Ranma cautiously asked.

"Yes it is. Pure 100 percent Columbian," he said boastingly. He impatiently rolled up 1,000 yen bill and snorted a line about the size of a coffee straw.

Everyone watched spellbound as he tilted his head back and inhaled through his nostrils as hard as he could. Ranma gulped as she saw him scratch his throat, a sign of the forced massive drip from taking in a large bump from the get go.

Ranma sat closer to the table and leaned over. "If that's the real deal I guarantee you it's not pure Columbian."

"And how would you know?" he shot back, apprehensively. He had a little trouble getting the words out, as his esophagus felt like it had shrunk to the size of a pea.

She smirked and took down what was left in her cup. "I used to live in America for seven years, you don't think I've tried coke before?"

The group was speechless at that, and she took a close look at the tin with prying eyes. The color was a little too white and dull and had definitely been cut heavily. It didn't quite have the pearlescent off color white of pure cocaine.

"You boys mind if I try a bump?" Ranma asked casually.

Seita was a rich boy with a penchant for being a bratty rebel. Even as a delinquent it was kind of shocking to meet a woman, especially one so beautiful, who was as daring as this.

"Go ahead," he gulped.

Ranma swiped her index finger on one of the lines and rubbed the top of her gums with it, running her tongue against it to taste. The acrid and chalky texture was immediately present, and it took a minute or so for her mouth to start going numb. She didn't realize that everyone had been staring at her.

"Let me ask you something, Seita." Ranma slipped in between his friends and had an arm around his shoulders, although it was more intimidating than intimate. "Is it just me, or since when has blow been popular around here?"

Seita felt some carnal excitement at being wrapped around her, and he was just peaking off his euphoric high. "This hasn't even been around for a month! It's expensive, but I got hooked up with this stuff along with some of my friends. No one's ever been able to score coke before, it's unheard of!"

"And how much do you pay for it?" she said, nodding in interest.

"15,000 yen a gram, and I got like 100,000 yen's worth right here!"

This time it was Ranma's turn to balk, prices like this for street cocaine in America would be undercut to hell with so many competing drug dealers. This discovery was quite sobering. The others were already cutting lines for themselves and the other girls were anxiously waiting their turn.

"Pretty popular, huh? I remember all the rich kids in America used to party with this," Ranma said coolly. "Is it the same here?"

"Hell yeah! I wouldn't be surprised if this shit is going off the hook right now."

"Where do you get it?"

Seita turned stiff and looked at her uneasily. "Why, you into this stuff?"

Ranma treaded softly, but with resolution. Devil's Dandruff was famous for making even the tightest of lips to blabber out important things. "Let's assume I do get down, and I'm just dyin' for it," she said in sultry whisper.

"Right here, downtown. There's this guy just a few years older than us who just lurks around and never in the same place twice and always disguises himself differently. You have to look for him, but you flash some cash and some interest and he'll get you. Doesn't like small fry, he only accepts big orders."

"What's small and what's big?"

"He does eight balls for 60,000 yen and I bought 7 grams for 105,000. He doesn't fuck around with poor ass stragglers."

"Is that a fact?" she replied. Her eyes caught a flash of blonde and teal hair walking past the door and out the establishment's exit. She quickly stood up and walked to the door. "Thanks for the fun, guys. Maybe I'll see you around. Don't snort that shit all by yourself either unless you want a third nostril."

"Hey wait!"

Ranma bolted into a separate corridor where the bathrooms were and went into the men's restroom. She turned on the faucet's hot water and quickly changed and splashed some warm water on her face just as the bathroom door slammed open.

"Hey man, did you see some girl run in here just now?"

Ranma shook his head apologetically. "I'm sorry, I'm the only one in here."

Seita looked around as it was clearly a one person bathroom. "Sorry about that."

"No problem," Ranma said, wiping his face with a paper towel as he walked past him. He suppressed the urge to pummel this kid to knock some sense into him before he turned into a full blown coke head.

He quickly made his way out and got a puzzling look from the bar owner as he was sure that man hadn't entered the place. Ranma looked around and saw Kiyone and Mihoshi talking next to the car, and subtly made his way over there.

Mihoshi leaned on the car with Kiyone facing her away from the street. Her face lit up as she saw Ranma walking by in front of them.

"Hey! Remember me!"

Ranma pretended to be surprised as he looked up. "Oh, Lieutenant Kuramitsu! What a surprise meeting you here?"

"Ya~da! Please, call me Mihoshi!"

"And if it isn't Sergeant Makibi. Or may I call you Kiyone?"

Kiyone turned around with a neutral look on her face and then smirked. "You can call me Makibi-san or Sergeant Makibi will do just fine, Agent Saotome."

"Well, you can just call me Ranma. Agent Saotome is a bit too stuffy, and that ain't even the right title either. It's Captain."

Kiyone's brow raised ever so slightly, impressed. "So, you finding your way around town alright? Or do you still need a tour guide?"

"Why yes I do, in fact. I'd like to know if there's a good place to eat around here, would you two like to join me?"

"Oh, that's awfully nice of you Ranma! But I got to go and have some people to meet and bad guys to catch," Mihoshi chirped, stepping away and pushing Kiyone towards Ranma. "But Kiyone here is free, and she has absolutely nothing to do tonight and no one else to go see or any other work to do because I'm her boss and I took care of all that, you see?"

Ranma blinked as Kiyone heavily sweatdropped. She was glaring at Mihoshi in earnest. She pulled her over to the side before she can escape to the driver's seat.

"What the hell do you think you're doing Mihoshi!" she hissed.

"I'm just going to leave you two lovebirds alone while you go out! Don't fight it Kiyone, its not like guys are dropping at your feet at your age you know. You should take this as a good chance!"

"Like you're any younger!" Kiyone nearly yelped as Mihoshi slipped her way inside the car and started it.

"Bye, bye!" Mihoshi drove away quickly almost hitting several objects and people.

"Anou..."

Kiyone looked wide eyed at the dusty path Mihoshi left behind and turned her head around to see Ranma standing around looking befuddled.

"If you need a ride home I have a car."

"......"

"Buy you a drink?" Sweatdrop.

The relinquished GP looked at the ground and sighed. "Sure, why not."

------------------

Kiyone was still in disbelief as she held the empty cup in her hand.

"Did you really have to do that again? It's not fun being wet all the time."

She munched on a piece of dried fish. "Sorry, this is just too fun."

The evening had gone by without surprises and they got along and exchanged small talk with usual conversation topics like upbringing, education, and other assorted things. However it didn't take long for cold water to find Ranma while he was in the presence of Kiyone. At first he tried to hide it with quick reaction and resourcefully finding warm liquids from literally arm's reach. But since dinner, the last person who accidentally spilled water on him finally spilled the beans for Kiyone. His explanation of the curse was curiously... easier, than most other people accepted at first.

"This is why I always like asking for a pot of hot tea with me wherever I am," Ranma said as she lifted it to her head.

Kiyone watched once again in rapt fascination as a well figured woman turned into a well figured man in an almost surreal metamorphosis. The other patrons inside were politely ignoring them as they just figured they were drunk and seeing things.

"You're a man full of surprises," Kiyone said. She finally gave him a smile. He ran his mouth a bit, but he knew how to take a joke in stride.

"And you ain't? Your hair color looks like it came straight out of an anime and if I didn't know any better I'd say your ki is abnormal. It's like you're not human."

"What?" Kiyone almost choked. "What do you mean my ki is different? What the hell does that mean?"

"I'm a serious martial artist too, I can pick up these things. Your aural signature is nothing like I've ever felt before. I didn't notice till too long ago since we ate."

"So I'm different, so what," Kiyone lamely replied. She was quite taken aback, no one had ever told her she let out a different "aural signature" from humans. It was like this guy was able to pry into her, and she couldn't afford to let just anyone know she was from a world far beyond his comprehension.

"I guess. Maybe it's just me, it's not like I've traveled the world or nothing. I guess foreigners are different? After all you said you weren't exactly from Japan."

"Yeah, that's right," she quickly replied.

That was about the best Ranma's logic could apply to such a discovery. It wasn't like she was some demon or evil entity. That much his sixth sense filtered out. And of course surely she had to be human, it wasn't like she was an alien from a different planet.

I hope he doesn't suspect I'm an alien, Kiyone nervously thought to herself.

"I like this izakaya, by the way. The food's actually really good, and the bar is four stars all the way. You come here often?"

Kiyone nodded. "Mihoshi loves the finger foods here, and I like the oden they make." She took a spoonful of the hot oden broth. "Here, try some"

She lifted her spoon to her lips on blew on the hot soup lightly, and held it in front of Ranma's nose. He gratefully accepted, and smiled when she popped the spoon out of his mouth.

"Mmm. Wow, that is good."

"Sou, ne?"

"I have to tell you there's so many things I've missed out on since I lived in America for so long. I'd never find oden that tastes this good in K-Town or Torrance."

"Of course not, it's not Japan. Why would they even have it?"

Ranma swirled his beer in his cup before drinking it. "Ah, but you see. Have you ever been there before?"

"Well, no," she admitted.

"Well I came from Southern California. And I'll tell you, it's the biggest melting pot in the world right there. Just about anything you want, you can find."

"You lived in Los Angeles, right?"

"Yeah, along Venice Beach."

"Lots of movie stars, fame, and fortune?" What she knew of LA was what she heard from Mihoshi rambling on about celebrities and such and the glamour of Hollywood.

"I had to look for the drugs, murder, and mayhem. The city hides this cesspool under all the daily grind. But I'd still live there."

"The universe is just like that," Kiyone replied. "Some places are just overridden with crime. I'm glad Okayama is reasonably nice. At least it's not a war zone."

"Do you specialize in anything, Makibi-san? Or do you work on just about anything that's thrown your way?"

Ranma lifted a bottle of Asahi Super Dry to Kiyone's empty glass.

Kiyone accepted the pour and brought a frothy glass to her lips. "I do everything. Robbery, homicide, narcotics, and vice. Anything too high profile, Mihoshi and I handle."

"So you do narco too?" he asked, getting a nod. "How's that around here, big problem?"

"I'm sure you've done some research about it. The only big ones are basically methamphetamines and E. You get the occasional marijuana which is so poor in quality we don't consider it too much a threat. And opium is so far underground we can't track it or it's a catch that we get once in a blue moon."

"A lot of meth addicts?"

Kiyone shook her head. "Oh, no. It's nowhere near as bad as it is in the US. There's hardly any crystal meth here. There are more processed forms for easier smuggling and selling."

"How about cocaine?"

Kiyone chuckled as she enjoyed her drink. "I'm sure there's some around in this country, but it's not like this is South America either. I've never seen it or heard of it. It's too rare."

Ranma wordlessly nodded and leaned back in his chair, looking at the light on the ceiling. "Well," he said, looking back to Kiyone straight in the eye. "I was just around a couple of teenagers earlier who were bugging me while I was in my cursed form. They were partying and one of them brought out a tin of blow."

"Really?" Kiyone sat up straight, interested.

"That's the only nice thing about being a girl sometimes. Guys become suckers for you," he said, earning a wink and a mischievous grin from Kiyone. "I took a sample and tasted it. It was the real thing."

"So did you run into some high ranking Yakuza boss' son? Is that why you were asking about it earlier?"

"No, it wasn't anyone special. It was just some rich college brat, and he told me it's been available for a month, downtown. Says he would be surprised if it wasn't taking off on the street scene."

"No way, you're shitting me."

"I shit you not, Detective. Maybe one of your guys have heard about it at least or working on something?"

Kiyone sighed. "That may be, who knows. I'm guessing like you said this must be pretty new around here."

"Or it could be some people are just keeping tabs on it and making sure it doesn't spill out. Coke is big money, more than enough to buy off a few heads from talking."

"Our bureau is clean, I'll tell you that right now. They're all average middle aged men with families and I personally oversee their duties."

"And how about you then?" Ranma asked frankly. "Are you clean?"

"Of course I am." Her nose twitched in irritation. "I haven't done a single dishonorable thing in my life as a police officer."

"How'd you do in your old department? Standard rank and file, patrol and control?"

"I did alright," she replied lamely. "I wanted to move closer to my friends I guess."

"You got friends in Okayama?"

"Yeah, they live in the mountains about thirty minutes away on the expressway. Real nice getaway."

"You must've done pretty damn well in your old post to have moved up this young, huh?" Ranma was looking at her straight in the eye.

Kiyone felt a chill running up her spine. "I do what I can," she said casually. She thought desperately for a way to change the subject.

"I see," he replied, nodding. He broke away his gaze and drank what was left in his cup.

It wasn't that she was afraid of being suspected as a corrupt cop, but she wasn't a completely honest one either. The man in front of her, despite his appearance, probably had the full power to investigate her employment and possibly find a crack. She wasn't ready to give up her life as a normal human on Earth.

"I'm going to order some more beer, do you mind?" She smiled at Ranma.

He blinked and sniffled. Ranma wasn't the type to show how drunk he was, but he was quite plastered as is. "Sure, I'm down."

The izakaya owner promptly brought over a fresh bottle and Kiyone eagerly poured two more glasses.

Kiyone watched with a smile as Ranma unreservedly downed his glass. "Drink often?"

Ranma accepted a refill and clicked his glass with Kiyone's before taking another sip. "I like to relax," he replied simply.

"Fair enough," Kiyone acknowledged.

"Lot of stress," Ranma blurted.

"What was that?"

"My old job gave me a lot of stress. A shit load of it. A drink in your hand and a Marlboro in the other made things a lot easier to deal with at the end of the day."

"You smoke?" she asked, surprised.

"Quit," he said simply, putting his glass down. "Excuse me, can I get a Johnny Walker Blue*, neat?" he motioned to the izakaya bartender.

His second helping of scotch for the day, Ranma swirled his chilled glass as he took it and sipped it lightly enjoying the fragrance and the frosty contact on the tip of his lips.

"That looks good," Kiyone said with a lick of her lips. "Can I try some?"

Ranma handed the glass over as the teal haired detective looked at it with misty eyes.

"It's so smooth," Kiyone purred. Even the texture and aroma felt expensive in her mouth.

The corners of his lips curled, and Ranma felt himself loosen up considerably at the presence of this beautiful woman. "Another glass of Blue Label, please."

He took his glass back and handed Kiyone a fresh amber double shot of smoky liquor in a frosted white glass of her own.

Kiyone was taking a bow herself, she had been drinking before with Mihoshi and it was well into round two with Ranma. Her bloodstream was starting to concentrate with the fruits of the evening as her sobriety rapidly took a dive.

But it was hardly often that she would get to drink such a fine spirit.

"You like?"

"Mmm. It makes me feel like I'm alive."

"You never drink the Blue on the rocks, I think it kills it. Always neat and straight."

"I'll remember that next time."

"Next time is it?"

Kiyone couldn't help but smile at the come on. "You know what? You aren't the dipshit that I thought you were."

"Wow!" Ranma's eyes widened with surprise. "You saw me like that from the get-go, huh?"

"Hey, you're the one who was acting too cool to be a cop and you got that 'I kick ass at everything' confident shit eating grin you carry around with you every time I bump into you."

Ranma was taken aback and quite confused in his intoxicated state.

"But I have to admit," she said as she got her face close to his. "You're actually a pleasant guy to hang out with. And as confident as you look, you don't look like you're faking it either."

Her eyes were right below his as her chin was supported on her arm leaning on the bar. She could smell the trail of whiskey that emanated from her nose as she breathed.

"And I have to admit myself, you're one of the most interesting people I've met in a long while," Ranma replied, his lock on her eyes unwavering. "I swear you're like a fun to solve puzzle."

"Fun to solve like a puzzle?" Kiyone chuckled at that. "Do I come off like that to you?"

Ranma cooed with a Cheshire grin. "I'm no psychic, but I think I've figured you out a little bit. Tell me if I'm right or wrong."

Kiyone continued to rest her chin on her hand, and her face was still inches away from his. "Go on, Captain. I'd like to hear."

"I think you think you're hot shit," Ranma said slowly. "I think you know other people think you're hot shit. But like you said about me, I think we're kind of alike."

Feeling slightly flustered at first, Kiyone quickly became very interested in what he had to say.

"A girl with a fire burning inside like you, I don't think you're faking it either. I knew within ten minutes of meeting you you're a better cop than your friend and boss is."

Kiyone's expression didn't change, again impressed by this vibrant and younger personality in front of her.

Ranma continued. "I think you're so good at anything and everything you do, you find yourself bored with guys who are straight laced and as reliable as a light switch. They either brag about garbage you couldn't give two shits about, or they're just tools who try to satisfy your every whim." He downed the rest of his scotch and looked back into her eyes.

Without blinking and without breaking her composure, Kiyone simply did the same and plowed down the rest of her drink as well. "Not bad," she simply replied.

Wordlessly Ranma got his wallet out and dropped a couple of bills on the table and stood to leave with Kiyone following in tow.

The two didn't even hear the bar owner enthusiastically thanking their patronage as they tried their best not to stumble out to the street, both piss drunk and rapidly declining still. The consistent and smooth sear of Johnny Walker was still engulfing their throats as they walked out into the now dark and neon lit night.

Kiyone sloppily swiveled on her heels and twirled her finger around Ranma's collar, tip toeing to get into his face. "You know, I take it back," she slurred. "You're still a dipshit."

"Struck a nerve?" Ranma said, trying to balance on his feet from a head rush of alcohol. "I bet you still make the point to dump the guy first just to show you're the boss, huh?"

"Now you're bein' a jackass!" she replied irritably. "Think you're so fucking smart, huh?"

"I was just playin' fair since you're the one who shared your thoughts about me first," he replied, also slurring. His vision was muddled too.

The two stared at each other lividly, with Kiyone forgetting her hand had been twirled around his collar and was now resting flat on his chest. What had been a pissing contest quickly and violently turned into something neither could explain or perhaps wanted to, but their lips were pressed against each other and tongues intertwined.

Both were secluded in private under dark shadow, and they made out with a passionate drive that matched their previous tenacity. Ranma was the first to stop as his tongue was the last thing to come apart with a sloppy string of saliva connected to hers as it dripped off.

Neither could believe what they had just done as they seemed to come to their senses.

"I'm sorry-"

"I don't know what came over me-"

They stopped each other mid-sentence and stared at each other silently.

"I think I drank too much," Ranma said, breaking the ice.

"You got me there," Kiyone replied shyly.

For a moment, they saw each other like they were a teenage couple who had just shared their first kiss.

Immense guilt hit Ranma's shoulders as he looked apologetic, and seemed to sober up. "I apologize, Makibi-san. I shouldn't have done that."

The words that wanted to come out automatically were caught in her throat, as a small voice from her heart came through stronger. "N-no. You don't have to apologize."

The awkward silence this time was deafening, although the sound of their heartbeats were louder.

"The night was interesting enough, I think we should both head home now," Ranma said somberly. His voice sounded unsure and his own heart was panged with a remorse that had no relevance to the girl in front of him.

Kiyone felt the same need to respectfully end the night here, and nodded in agreement.

***

April 11th, 2001. 12:24 PM.

Detectives Bureau, Okayama Police Department - Okayama, Japan.

Kiyone drew a deep breath and shot another rubber band across the room hitting the closed door inside her office. Her desk was clear of any paperwork and all administrative duties had been taken care of with zealous and steadfast concentration. She spent a decent chunk of the morning perusing through current narcotics activities curious to see if the rumors of cocaine being sold in town were true.

All the officers in the bureau were out on lunch and a few unlucky ones busy out in the field. Mihoshi had ordered takeout Chinese and was busy stuffing her face in her own office. Although her partner offered to share as it was customary of her to over order, this time Kiyone refused and wanted to be left in solace.

Last night's sudden bit of ravenous affection was playing on repeat in her mind. Being drunk was easy, she simply came home in a stupor and passed out. The next day had given her plenty of sober thinking ability to ponder over what had happened. Mihoshi's constant nosy questions weren't much help either.

And yet the same sentiments seemed to resonate. She had enjoyed it, as messy and irresponsibly random as it was.

A loud beep from the intercom interrupted her reverie. "Kiyone~! Are you sure you don't want any of this beef chow-fan? It literally melts in your mouth."

"No thanks, Mihoshi. I'm not hungry." She clicked off the transmit button of the conference phone.

"What's wrong, Kiyone? You haven't been yourself all morning."

"There's nothing wrong," she lied. "You're just thinking too much."

"I know there's something you're not telling me," Mihoshi chided. "Was it something with Saotome-san last night? It is, isn't it?"

"Give it a rest, will 'ya Mihoshi? I just don't have an appetite."

"You came home wasted last night and it wasn't even that late, and you've barely said a thing since you woke up."

"I just had a few drinks and came home, and I was just thinking of work all morning."

Mihoshi often wondered why in rare moments like this Kiyone tended to be a terrible liar.

"Seriously, he seems like a nice guy and maybe the best looking one I've seen either of us come across. Don't tell me you blew him away."

Kiyone mashed the transmit button angrily. "You're starting to piss me off now Mihoshi. I don't feel like talking about it right now while we're at work! I didn't blow him off, okay!? He wasn't being just another asshole!"

"Whew, glad I didn't at least score that title too."

A simultaneous "Huh?" emanated from the speakerphone and Kiyone's lips as she looked up to see a familiar face and ponytail peeking its head through the door.

"Err, did I come at a bad time? I didn't mean to eavesdrop, but I assumed you were talking about me when you were yelling at the phone when I opened the door."

The intercom from Mihoshi's side hastily clicked off and Kiyone saw her curious eyes peek out from across the room from her office.

"I'm sorry to surprise you like this, but mind if I come in?"

Kiyone wordlessly nodded. Ranma stepped in and stood behind the guest chairs that were in front of the desk.

"How did you get in? Nobody stopped and asked you who you were when you walked through the personnel doors?"

Ranma shrugged his shoulders. "Honestly? I just pretended like I owned the place and no one really figured I was lost or out of place. Plus everyone's too busy with their lunch break it seems to care."

"I see," she said warily, looking a little worried.

"Hmm. Yeah."

Kiyone felt like she was under scrutiny sitting at her desk while he was just standing there.

"I wanted to talk to you about last night," he said hesitantly. He took a seat in front of her, immediately picking up that she had felt uncomfortable. "And the first thing I want to say to you is I'm sorry."

"I-" she paused. Her eyes wavered and were slightly embarrassed to meet his. "I was pretty wasted," she chuckled.

"I think we were both pretty wasted," he chuckled as well, trying to make light of the situation.

"What do you think it was that made us do that all of a sudden?" she asked with a smile. "You and I were just going at it with the insults."

Ranma paused and stared at her with an amused smile, a strange sense of deja vu trickling in his mind. "Hey, at least you're attractive. That much I can be thankful for."

"I could say the same thing," she replied sighing and leaning back in her chair. "You're not the only guy I randomly made out with that drunk, but I think you're the best looking."

"Oh man," Ranma blurbed, unexpectedly blushing. "So let's get past, ahem, last night, shall we?"

Kiyone felt a chill up her spine as this wave of relief took the weight off her shoulders at the sight of Ranma reddening. "Just don't let Mihoshi know, ok? Next thing you know she'll be slipping roofies in our drinks."

Ranma laughed. "Alright." He pulled out some folded sheets of paper out of his pocket and handed them to Kiyone. "I need to ask you a question about this."

"And this is?" She took the folded sheets from his hand and opened them up. "Oh, they're printed files."

When she saw whose files they were, she blanched.

"So I know I told you I'm not a rat. And like you said over the phone just now I'm not an asshole either. So I'll be fair."

The GP detective's eyes were going back and forth on the summarized personnel sheets of her and Mihoshi and Ranma's soft blue gaze.

"One of my duties as the local NSA agent is to oversee the affairs of the police and also observe any unusual activities from within. Now, that doesn't mean I'm internal affairs, and I certainly don't wish to be either."

Kiyone nodded, albeit uncomfortably. The ambient mood in the room had taken a drastic turn. She didn't know where he was going with this.

"I knew there was something special about you from when I first met you two. Especially you," he said, gesturing to her. "I figured since I knew your names and you were the first cops I met in town, I could look you guys up."

This made her frown. "Now don't you think that was kind of a dick move? How do I know you weren't just swooping on me to get some private info?"

Ranma didn't falter. "First of all, I have every authority and right to do so."

The annoyed frown on Kiyone's face was replaced with a skeptical one.

"Second, c'mon Sergeant. You have to give yourself a little more credit. Honestly, even if I'd stalked your private details like some loser would you have hung out with me if I was acting like someone other than myself? Sorry, I see you as anything but easy. And don't take that the wrong way. It's just my way of saying I have some deep respect for you."

Kiyone was not one for petty one-ups, and she took his words seriously. "I'm sorry. I didn't want to sound like I was accusing you, but I feel like you're accusing me right now over my job history."

Knowing he was on thin ice over a delicate situation, Ranma decided to tread thin. "I'm not accusing you over anything, and I'm not here to ruin your life or even affect your job. I'd like to be your friend, and not some heavy handed Fed. But I just want to know the truth, because you and I both know that something isn't completely right in those files you're holding right now."

Again, Kiyone sighed. "The transfer was legitimate. I'm not a fake cop or a corrupt one."

"I figured that much. No one could pull off a transfer like yours unless you two were the real thing. And your excellent records more than show you two aren't criminals."

"Thank you, I appreciate you seeing at least that much of us," she said gratefully.

"But still, I'd like to know. It's my job to know. But more because I think I would like us to be friends, I wish to know. Where are you two from?"

By now Mihoshi had snuck up and was eavesdropping through the door in plain view of Kiyone, and she too was rapt with curiosity over what was going on in the room.

With an almost resigned looking smile, Kiyone finally nodded. "This much is true. We really are foreigners, and we really are out of town."

"Okay."

"What will you be doing this weekend?"

The question caught Ranma off guard. "Excuse me?"

"Do you have any plans for the weekend? I was wondering if you'd like to join me over at my friend's mountain retreat. It's a large temple and house by the lake in the mountains."

"The getaway? You're inviting me?"

Kiyone nodded. "I'm asking you to hang out. And I promise, I'll explain everything to you."

"So is that a date?" Ranma smiled.

"Bring another bottle of that expensive whiskey, and maybe."

"Promises?"

"Hey Captain, I'm still an older woman. Alright? Don't think it's that easy."

"Twelve months earlier and two ranks lower make you that much more elusive, does it?"

Even Mihoshi cringed at the smug comeback, but Kiyone's face lit up with amusement. Something about him was really hard to hate. "Alright, alright. North on route 56 and exit where it says Masaki Shrine and drive all the way to the end. Saturday morning, nine AM. Sound good?"

"Sounds fantastic, Sergeant Makibi."

"You may call me Kiyone if you'd like," she replied with a smug smile of her own.

Ranma stood up to leave. "By the way it would've been easier to just eavesdrop with the intercom, Lieutenant," he said loudly. He heard someone's head bang against the glass window covered by shades. He gave a two fingered salute to Kiyone as she snickered. "Ja ne."

He whistled nonchalantly as he passed by Mihoshi as she was rubbing her head on the ground, pretending not to see her. She quickly crawled into the office to her dazed looking partner.

"What was that about!?"

"Hmm?" Kiyone replied sweetly.

Mihoshi was beaming. "You invited him over to Tenchi's! Now I really want to know what happened between you two!"

"You didn't care about how he suspected us being fake or corrupt cops, Mihoshi?"

"Oh, he doesn't seem like the kind of guy who'd waste time on stuff like that," she said, much to Kiyone's exasperation. "But seriously, something must be going on Kiyone. I may be dumb but I know well enough to know when you like a guy."

"I got a little too drunk with him last night, and we ended up making out."

Mihoshi squealed in delight. "And then? And then?"

"And then nothing. I was plastered out of my mind. He came in to apologize about it, and I told him we're both adults. It's fine."

"Wow. I am SOO jealous of you, Kiyone!"

Kiyone shrugged as the novelty of the whole thing had worn off pretty quickly, and realized just for a moment that Ranma was right. She wasn't easy, she was picky, and this didn't happen to her often. "What happened, happened Mihoshi. He's not bad at all. So yeah, I might give him a chance, okay?"

"That's more than I'd ever thought I'd hear from you again, Kiyone." Of course what Mihoshi didn't know was it was literally a kiss bursting with sexual passion as her partner had literally drooled all over Ranma and vice versa.

Kiyone blinked with a stiff look on her face, realizing how long it had been herself. "You're telling me."

A grin crept onto Mihoshi's face as she tapped the desk with her finger. "So you still not hungry? Because I have a pile of fresh Chinese takeout in my office still. I could use some help finishing it."

The solace of being left alone was sifting away quickly, as Kiyone felt like herself again. "Sure, why not. I was starting to feel a little hungry," she said with a smile.

End of Chapter 2

Disclaimer: Ranma is not owned by me, it is a copyright by Viz, Rumiko Takahashi, the other big companies, so on and so forth. Kiyone, Mihoshi and of course all references to Tenchi belong to AIC and Pioneer.

Author's Ramble: Okay, so I've finally finished the second half of my prose rewrite to the beginning of this story. It took literally years, but wow the prose rewrites are done. This chapter was written significantly faster than the first one, as I had a very good idea of how I wanted to introduce Kiyone in the fic with an intro she deserves, and not the childish garbage I made years ago in the script version. I think this addition will improve the depth of the story as well as relations between our main heroes as this was originally a short and sloppy 14 page work extended into 41.

First off, I have to admit that I absolutely love Kiyone. I think she is up there as one of the most memorable goddesses of anime history. There's just something about her that makes her standout and the very fact that she was a cop and her whole personality revolves as such inspired me to grind out and create a story that effectively transformed Ranma into a believable police officer (whether I accomplished that or not, I'll let you readers decide.) so that I could possibly pair them. Her character in Tenchi Universe was so unappreciated and underrated that I couldn't help but wonder how complicated a character she could be if prodded.

I took some liberties obviously, with certain details like her status as a GP after the end of Tenchi Universe, her privileged transfer as an Okayama detective, as well as some other things. You see, since you never see Kiyone pining after Tenchi like the other girls in the Tenchi series, I had this idea stuck in my head that she'd be kind of a stuck up elitist kind of girl who was super picky about the guys she dated, or at the very least established high standards without realizing it herself. She just seems like the kind of hard to get girl you meet in a social setting who has that rare quality of being super hot and sexy without trailing a neon skank advertisement (although this is debatable, and I won't disagree with some men who think all girls who match those two descriptions are skanks. I unfortunately understand). I was stuck for a looong time in setting up and dialoguing Ranma and Kiyone's back and forth banter and setting up the places and trying to establish a competitively tense mood between the two. I dunno if that made sense or not, but I hope you get the idea.

Mihoshi's character got a little boost too, and I thought long ago it'd be hilarious to have her dumb luck continue on to her new job. I could only imagine how easy going a slacker like her would be as a supervisor, even if she gets the job done.

And oh yeah, I did forget to mention. You're right, PCHeintz, the search and rescue guy was a reference and potshot towards Tokairin from YUA. I don't hate the guy, but I always thought he was a pussy just for being Mr. Nice Guy to every fucking person he meets in the series. Btw I have no solid facts or scenes I can reference to support my opinion, it's just something that was passin' me by.

As for other little notes, I honestly based bits and pieces of the Okayama PD from what I know from watching You're Under Arrest and from what I know about police here in the US. It's not accurate by any means, but I think it'll do. Apologies for my lack of research into this, as my resources on the topic were kind of limited.

And here again we hear from Ranma's stateside friends, McClane, Al, and Vince. A couple of Vince's lines were SHAMELESSLY stolen verbatim from the movie Tombstone, specifically Val Kilmer's Doc Holliday in which Vince Thompson is based off of.

As for Mihoshi's perfect blend of orange mocha frappachino? You can just say I've watched Zoolander a couple times too many. I swear if I could find a way I'd someone insert Mugatu into the story just to amuse myself.

Johnny Walker Blue Label is a pretty expensive scotch whiskey that is sold in limited quantities for a bit hefty but reasonable price of a couple hundred bucks if bought from a store in America. It's probably the finest blended scotch I can think of, and for those of you who've tried it you know what I mean when I described it's flavor as in the fic. Generally extremely expensive though when bought in establishments, and I can only imagine how much it can be in Japan (again an izakaya stocking a fucking 25+ year old bottle of Johnny Blue is a liberty that I took). By the way, like Ranma described, it's always taken neat and straight in a chilled glass. You're a 100% grade-A fucking asshole if you drink JW Blue on the rocks and dilute its flavor. That's my opinion anyway.

Technical Notes: There's only really one technical note that I can see needs to be explained for this chapter, and that is on the cocaine.

Real, uncut Columbian cocaine doesn't like white, white. It's like this weird, off colored white. It is by no means powdery, and is actually kinda grainy and in clumps that need to be cut up finely into lines like you see in movies. Most people will never see what uncut virgin coke looks like in their whole lives, I've actually only seen it once myself as it was caught being smuggled through thick black plastic and the Narcs who had busted it told me it was a rare uncut delivery from South America. I've seen coke in general plenty of times before, while and before I was a cop.

As for the guy who snorts the fat bump of coke and scratches his throat? When you snort it rapidly and it just drips real quick to the back of your throat, you get this feeling like there's a sock stuck in your throat and it becomes super numb along with the rest of your face. The sensation to scratch and itch it is one of curiosity. And for female Ranma tasting the coke by rubbing it on her gums and tongue? You see this often in the movies when cops seem to dip their fingers into what looks like bag of coke and they taste it, or sometimes they rub it on their gums too. This is not to see that it is simply not powdered sugar. Coke is a powerful analgesic, and it makes any mucous contacted surfaces in your body numb on contact. The feeling of being high is almost impossible to accurately describe without trying it yourself (and I of course suggest you DON'T find out), but its centrally connected to you getting that numb feeling spread from your sinuses to throat. Also, cocaine has this super distinctive chemically taste, again impossible to describe but also impossible to mistake.

How do I know all of this? Sigh. And NO, they don't let cops take or smuggle hard drugs, or at least easily that I know of.

Anyway that's the end of my notes right there. Again, I apologize for how long it took to write this out, it's been half a year already since I started this. The same excuses apply, writer's block, personal time, busy time, lazy time, you name it. And as much as I hate to say it, I'm very much tempted to rewrite the third chapter as well, but more likely I'm going to tweak it a bit to change some minor discrepancies. More specifically times and dates of events. I'm still not done with chapter 6 by the way, and I apologize for that too. I couldn't bring myself to continue with that even though it was near completion because this rewrite business had been plaguing me and I felt I should give it priority.

PLEASE, PLEASE, PLEASE SEND ME FEEDBACK!!! I write way faster when people give me feedback! My e-mail is .

Visit my website at .com for any updates, as new material always shows up there first.

Finished February 18, 2007.


	3. 03 NEW AND REVISED! Meet the Family

This is a heavily modified (practically rewritten however) fixed version that I made to correspond with the newly rewritten first two chapters. If you've read my previous old version before, don't worry. This is practically completely new material you see here.

IMPORTANT!!!!!!! If this is the first time you're reading this fic, you must read starting from Chapter 1 completely first! This story will seem very ridiculous and out of place if you don't.

This fic is a crossover with Ranma and the Tenchi OAV/Universe series. The rest of the Tenchi characters will be introduced in this chapter, and there will be a couple of fun surprises as well. Hopefully you readers know some basic knowledge about both Ranma and Tenchi:) Compared to movies, I would rate this as a "R" fanfic, because of some of the harsh language used.

Here are a few things you must know while reading this:

-The Ranma aspect of the story takes place after manga 38 and the Tenchi aspect takes place after the TV show/OVA.

-Also Ranma still has his curse, but his female form has black hair (like the manga) and is now just as tall as his male form as the curse has matured.

-SgtRanma

At the moment fanfiction . net and Anifics seem to be the only place I can tell people to update. As of now, I've got someone who's graciously helping me out with a new place to host my fics. Woot.

Without further ado...

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Chapter 3: Meet the Family

April 13th, 2001. 11:14 PM

Downtown Okayama Shopping District – Okayama, Japan.

Both men had regarded each other warily as they approached the recessed corridor behind a popular nightclub. Their conversation was drowned out of audible range thanks to the bustling pitter patter of people walking along the streets.

"You got the cash, you got the snow."

"Two eight-balls* for 100,000 yen? You must make a killing huh?"

"Who's asking?"

"No, one, just me. I haven't tried this since moving back to Japan."

"Is that a fact?"

Ranma nodded and handed over ten bills to his shady companion behind the dumpster of a discreet alley. Just over the corner people were walking around on the busy street promenade in the midst of a lively Friday evening.

The dealer had a bony face and a trimmed goatee to match his stylishly appointed threads. A gold ring pierced above his left eye and an expensive Breitling chronograph on his wrist revealed some of the money he seemed to heft around.

"Your name was Hashimoto, you said?"

"That's right."

His seedy grin was more than enough to tighten up Ranma's grimace. A short, quick exchange of information from Kiyone revealed that rumors of a new drug being available was indeed true and it was a walk in the park for Ranma to find and do some quick talking to get this coke peddler to trust him.

"Here's your shit," he replied while handing Ranma two rolled plastic baggies.

He opened up one of them and dipped a finger in there, scooping a little into his nails and coating his finger in the white powder. He rubbed it lightly on his gums

"That remind you of the good ol' U.S. of A?"

Ranma took a moment to collect himself, tasting the substance with his tongue and sniffling at the same time. The very light but analgesic affect of the tiny amount he just took confirmed it.

"This is the real thing. I can't believe it."

"Believe it buddy, and there's more where that came from. I got some H if you want to chase the dragon too. I'm your man, remember that."

The pigtailed detective smirked. "Yeah, that's right. You're mine. You're under arrest for the distribution and possession of cocaine."

Much to Ranma's surprise his unfortunate suspect bolted without even a moment's hesitation. And he was a surprisingly quick little bastard. Ranma yelped, embarrassed at his slow reaction.

The two figures ran around and out of the alley down a street filled with businesses, people and bright neon signs. Downtown Okayama wasn't a bad place to be, there were a lot of things to do, a lot of things to eat and buy, and a lot of ways to have fun. Running around chasing an amateur hadn't been in Ranma's Friday night plans.

The assignment was simple enough, the objective was to scope and flush out the apparently easy going coke dealer that was plaguing the downtown area. Unfortunately, the urgency of this matter and Ranma's thirst for some action led to him pulling this off the night before his "date" with Kiyone tomorrow.

It was typical of Ranma's ambitious nature and there was always some complication in his life one way or another. But his hunches also told him this was more than just a simple drug bust. He was carrying out a standard procedure that all good law enforcement groups used. Catch the small time drug runners so that they'll lead to the big bosses, the ones who controlled all the little fish.

The guy wasn't that fast but the number of people crowding the path made null of the tremendous speed advantage Ranma held.

Damn, Ranma thought. He was starting to regret starting this assignment so hastily, especially the night before he was going to see Kiyone. This could easily become a long night. Ranma continued to sprint after the running criminal down the busy district. The guy was obviously an idiot as he had no idea where the hell he was running. He thankfully dug his own grave by turning into an empty alley with no exit.

The drug dealer had no intention of getting caught by a damn narc. He was not about to easily give up this fantasy rich life that was so easily obtained by his boss' generous products. "Screw you, asshole! I won't go that easy!"

Ranma sighed and shook his head, these guys were all one in the same. He had already been hopped up before Ranma had found him, and he needed a good thorough beating to sober him up. He looked around the streets when he halted to a stop. The amount of hollering and yelling they were doing as they ran would garner unwanted attention. This had to be quick.

The criminal noticed that Ranma was alone, and there weren't anyone else to help him out. He growled angrily and pulled out a long sashimi knife from his jacket. "What the hell are you smiling about? You're all alone, huh? I'm gonna filet you with this fucking knife!"

Ranma eyed his target carefully, his arms and legs already moving on their own from years of hand-to-hand fighting experiencie. With a lightning quick push kick he knocked the punk straight on the floor and he slid back a few feet, groaning in pain.

"I'm gonna kill you!" Hashimoto wheezed.

Ranma sighed and flexed his forearms. Hashimoto propped himself back up, clutching onto his knife even tighter than before. His eyes were bloodshot and red, and his teeth were grinding from all the coke he'd been snorting himself.

Hashimoto sprinted towards Ranma again flailing his blade wildly, vowing to hit something even if he were to get kicked down again. To his surprise Ranma didn't move and he managed to slash towards his neck. It was a split second later when Hashimoto realized he was stopped dead in his tracks, his knife just inches away from Ranma's throat. He realized all of a sudden that he couldn't breathe.

Tuk-Gong Moo Sul had roots with Aikido for defensive takedowns, parrying the knife away with his hands through simple joint manipulation led him to fluid grab ahold of his victim off his feet while his hand held a vice like grip on Hashimoto's throat. Ranma shook his head silently, and released his grip just enough to keep him from passing out.

"Plea...pl...please don't kill me!" Hashimoto stuttered pathetically.

Ranma gave him a disappointed tsk. "You and I have a lot to talk about my friend. You've got a lot of balls to try and stab me." He dropped him on the ground and shoved him on the floor. He pulled out his handcuffs as Hashimoto coughed and hacked. Ranma forcefully grabbed his arms and twisted them behind his back.

"Don't move, put your hands behind your back and stay still. Get on your knees, and interlock your fingers. I'm not going to say it twice. Twitch and I'll break your neck," he spat.

A couple of uniformed police officers from a nearby koban box came into the alley at that moment with their batons drawn and pepper spray ready. They were surprised when they saw Ranma walking away from the downed criminal while carelessly yawning, it seemed they missed all the action.

Ranma cursed, the flat foots came quicker than he anticipated. He wanted to go to them first to avoid any misunderstandings. He racked up his brain for an explanation to give, otherwise this was going to be a long night with lots of red tape involved.

One of the officers came up to Ranma looking ready to pounce. "Stop right there! Who are you?"

"Whoa, whoa!" Ranma raised his hands in submission. "I'm an out of town detective! Just call for Sergeant Makibi or Lieutenant Kuramitsu! They'll explain!"

Both uniformed officers looked like they were ready to attack Ranma to apprehend him, but they calmed down when they recognized the names he mentioned.

"We're going to make a call right now to the Detectives' Bureau, you stay right there."

Ranma winced remembering that he had to keep a low profile. "I'll call them myself, and they'll notify you direct. How's that?"

One of the officers narrowed his eyes, mouth slightly agape. "You really expect us to believe you?"

Ranma gave up. This wasn't going at all the way he expected. "If I can't prove who I say I am, I'll come in quietly."

Both street cops looked at each warily, hands on their batons. They shrugged.

"If you're telling the truth, I'll be waiting."

"This is going to be interesting," Ranma grumbled under his breath as he pulled out his cell phone.

***

April 13th, 2001. 11:24 PM

Miho-Kiyo Apartment, Unit 215 - Okayama, Japan.

"That's right, he's a visitor in the area and helping me and Sergeant Makibi personally for a special case. Just hand him over to one of the boys in bureau and let our friend go. I'll call the watch commander at the station and he'll radio in to you guys direct so you can confirm. Thanks for your cooperation officer, I appreciate it."

Kiyone watched as Mihoshi snapped her cell phone shut and wondered why she had to call in to the police station.

"What was that about, Mihoshi?"

Mihoshi put away her phone and brushed her hair. "Ranma called me asking me to tell these two traffic cops that he was just a visitor in the city. I guess your new fling decided to bust someone and got caught!"

Kiyone rolled her eyes in mock exasperation. "So you bailed him out to keep his identity a secret?"

"Yeah, I just told them he's with us."

Kiyone shrugged. "Alright then, back to this. Damn, I'm gonna have to choose between these two," Kiyone said, as she crossed her arms with a hand on her chin.

She narrowed her eyes, debating which outfit would be better. She looked over to Mihoshi. It was always a good idea to get someone else's feedback. During their earlier years Mihoshi was a social butterfly and went out on dates all the time. While Kiyone was no homebody herself, she had only a few but steady relationships and never quite lived up to being as stylish as other girls she knew. Mihoshi was her super popular counterpart, and she knew how to dress and bedazzle.

"Hey Mihoshi, which one do you think I should wear?"

Mihoshi just looked at the two outfits, one laid out on the floor, the other on Kiyone. The one on the floor was a simple and nice dress that came down to the knees and was a nice, pale emerald green. It came complete with spaghetti straps. The other outfit was a bit of surprise.

The other was a set, complete with shorts, shirt and jacket. The shirt was a tight baby tee patterned with a very well contrasting dark indigo that flowed well with her hair color. It didn't have a low top but in combination with her well formed chest, there were visible cleavage wedges in the center. Then there was a loose and comfortable fitting tan khaki jacket that gave some subtle distraction away from Kiyone's curves with her tight shirt. It was all finished off with some thigh high cargo shorts. Like the miniskirt she wore last week, these tastefully showed off Kiyone's legs without going so high as to suggest something naughtier.

Mihoshi examined the two choices, and gave the nod to the outfit Kiyone was already wearing. "That one. Looks more natural on you since you're the outdoorsy type.

Kiyone observed her expression with a silent gaze to see if she was sincere about her choice and it looked like she was. "You think?"

Mihoshi looked at the elegant and innocent dress on the floor. "That dress makes you look like Ms. Goody Two-Shoes. And he's not exactly a choir-boy either."

"Me? I'm no floozy-" Kiyone paused. She thought about his kiss. "Never mind."

Kiyone put away her stuff and got ready to go to bed, satisfied with her choice and silently thanked Mihoshi. She tried to count some sheep in her head as the racket of Mihoshi blundering in the kitchen for a late night snack emanated in the background.

***

April 14th, 2001. 8:45 AM

Okayama Mountains, Route 56 - Okayama, Japan.

The crisp piney air carried by the whistling wind amongst the trees gave Ranma a peace of mind he hadn't experienced since his training trips with his father in his teen years. The gust of cherry blossoms floating in the breeze was almost surreal as they blew past the windshield. His training had advanced much since then, far beyond what he could've ever expected when he was sixteen years old. But that old tingle that ran though his jolting muscles whenever he was living off the land of mother nature always made him feel good.

Scenery in the wild was great and all, but it would've been a lot better if the road had been paved. After making a turn off the highway as instructed, Ranma realized this place was a very remote getaway as most wouldn't care or bother to venture through these gravely and harsh roads. His Chevy handled the rough terrain with ease and gobble up the dirt, but the ride was bumpy and tiring. He looked at the expensive liquor he had promised to bring Kiyone bouncing up on the seat. He was glad the expensive whiskey was in a box, it would've been unfortunate if it cracked open if the glass was bouncing around everywhere.

To think that there were ordinary people who lived this far in isolation was a curiosity, and Ranma couldn't see a single person anywhere. Maybe these damn roads probably discouraged people from visiting, or they took the bus to get here. Ranma saw one bus cruising down the mountain, but he didn't pay attention to see if there was anyone in it.

Ranma pressed the screen of his LCD screen fixed on to the dashboard of his car. The screen flickered and showed a map of where Ranma's car was at and how long it would take to get to his destination. He read the statistics on the screen, his destination was exactly 9.86 kilometers away, approximate arrival time, 15 minutes.

Ranma grinned at the amazing little computer attached to his car, he had never used a GPS system before, he'd heard of them but never imagined that they would be accurate down to literally a few human steps.

The road finally opened up beyond the narrow forest lane and revealed a fantastic view approaching the crest of the mountain and down into a huge cratered lake. Ranma punched the gas as the road widened.

---------------------

The Masaki home hadn't changed much after the Jurai Civil War. After a month of living alone, Tenchi had been pretty bored with his peaceful life. But thankfully everyone had come back, starting with the reappearance of Ryoko and Ryo-ohki. The chain reaction that ensued brought back all the chaos that had driven him nuts in the first place.

Tenchi enjoyed every moment of it.

He looked over at the yard where all the girls were chatting along about something, giggling and joking around with each other. Most of the attention was focused on Kiyone, they were all fussing over her and talking about her.

It was a beautiful start to the spring season with the cherry blossoms in full bloom, and no finer way to inaugurate it with a barbecue to last all day. It was also the start of his adult life, the end of high school, and a year spent in peace and quiet as a ronin. Tenchi had worked all day yesterday to pick up some fresh vegetables and fruits in the fields and prepare the wood fire pit out by the lake and Sasami prepared all the meats and other foods into coolers sitting in the yard. Ryoko was helpful with the refreshments, albeit with lots and lots of beer. And then some more beer. And if that wasn't enough, she generously brought along a couple of large and expensive bottles of Onikoroshi* when nightfall came.

*Demon sake – Very expensive and smooth sake served ice cold.

He would never admit it to anyone, but he felt relieved when all the chaos returned. Life was too short to live a quiet life. Tenchi looked back at the girls who were still chattering about their soon to arrive guest. He looked over at the laughing Ryoko and the giggling Ayeka, as well as the equally curious Sasami. Washu was pretending to be occupied, but was casually eavesdropping on them and piping in here and there.

He loved all of their company and the interesting adventures that circled around them. But as always the constant and insatiable bickering between Ayeka and Ryoko were a concern. It troubled him sometimes to know that both wanted him to love one of them more than the other. But he was young, and didn't know what love was himself. He felt he was in no position to choose.

Katsuhito made a simple remark in the matter, perhaps jokingly, that whoever acted the worthiest in front of Tenchi would be suitable as a companion. Or in other words, whoever was the least mischievous and best behaved would have a shot at the crown. The context of marriage was taken a little too literally by the girls, but it was amusing nonetheless.

It brought out a lot of interesting results, and amazingly, the plan worked beautifully. Sasami didn't change, she was a polite little angel like always and still a child going on to her teens. Washu was fixed in her mischievous ways, she had her own fun and games around the house and continued on as the resident genius with a new harebrained scheme to liven up every week.

Ryoko and Ayeka were the most pleasant surprise in their attitude adjustment. They were bonded by the fact that they were friends regardless of their mishap laden past, and the time spent living together on Earth was solidified by their earnest and sincere care for Tenchi himself. They were still privy to bickering every now and then, but it wasn't the hasty pissing contests that they had perseveringly endured before. It seemed for these two women of contrasting extremes of spoiled grace and rough necked rampage, learned something from the Jurian Civil War that all their years had not been able to teach. The turmoil they had shared together allowed them to wind down and regard each other with cooler, prevailing heads.

It was all perfectly laid out in this storm of chaos that invaded Tenchi's life. He was given plenty of time to forget about everything and allowed to live a relatively normal life with his friends. He now had the opportunity to catch up on his education like any other student and strive forward with plans he had once left dormant.

Interestingly, Katsuhito had put in one more important rule for all the girls, to Tenchi's advantage. He was to wait until he at least graduated college before any sort of plans for a future bride. And that meant all four years, of normal schooling, and many more if he wished to pursue higher degrees. It was an excellent diversion to allow Tenchi to mature.

Tenchi was still 18 with high school barely completed under his belt. His missed studies were handily made up thanks to some advanced academic training from Washu. On a whim and a suggestion he took a shot at those foreign SAT exams scoring a 1600* easy, along with his perfect grades in the last semester over here in the land of the rising sun. Although he was in danger of failing when all the girls came, thanks to some "cranial acceleration" programs invented by Washu. Although involved some haphazard experiments and a giant computer cable surgically plugged into Tenchi's brain against his will, everything worked out fine in the end.

As Tenchi pleasantly loafed about his current state, Kiyone was busy with the others babbling away on how to act around their soon to arrive guest. To the others this sounded awfully confusing as they were trying to figure out whether Kiyone wanted to keep their identities a secret or not.

All of them were listening on keenly as they were pleasantly surprised that Kiyone was able to find a guy in her spare time. As far as they knew, Kiyone was a woman married to her jobs. That and she kept her private life notoriously secret amongst the others.

"Okay, do all of you understand what not to do and say when he gets here?" Kiyone asked.

They all nodded with tepid enthusiasm, wondering why Kiyone was making such a fuss.

"Let me get this straight," Washu interjected, "You want us to pretend to be earthlings in front of your new boyfriend and make sure we don't say anything unusual? But you also invited him over here to tell him the truth? I don't get it."

Washu's comment finally got the others to nod in complete agreement.

Kiyone gave an exasperated sigh to Washu. "He's not my boyfriend! I invited him over so I can explain to him who I really am. He suspected Mihoshi and I as fake cops and had the evidence to prove it, so I have to clear this up. I just don't want to overwhelm him with all of your- I mean OUR unusual circumstance for being here and all the other crazy stuff."

"So, you want to lie to him?" Washu asked.

"I'm not trying to lie to him. I just don't want him to find out all at once about how weird we are. For all I know he might just freak out and give me and Mihoshi the axe. I don't want to lose a career that I worked hard for."

Washu regarded Kiyone for a moment and shrugged. They had never really had to deal with outsiders before, so the outcome of this was up for grabs. "Whatever you think is best, Kiyone. I know you aren't stupid."

Kiyone shrugged as well. "We'll see."

"So this guy is a cop, eh?" quipped Ryoko. "Do we really want more of you?"

"Hey! I thought we were your friends Ryoko!" whined Mihoshi.

Ryoko rolled her eyes at Mihoshi. "I'm just trying to give Kiyone here a hard time."

Kiyone shook her head, taking the joke in stride. She hoped her plan of breaking the news to Ranma would go as smooth as she hoped. She hoped he was the type who would understand things when they were presented to him slowly, piece by piece.

"Can you tell us what kind of person he is Kiyone-san?" Ayeka asked, curious about Kiyone's new prospect.

"Well, he's not really a cop. More like a government agent. A high ranking one at that. Seems like a nice guy, he's dedicated to his work like me. He has a pretty big mouth, kinda like you Ryoko," Kiyone said, smirking in the space pirate's direction.

Ayeka hid a chuckle as Ryoko stewed.

"And he's cute enough to make Kiyone blush!" Mihoshi blurted out.

Everyone laughed as Kiyone turned a bright shade of red and yelled at Mihoshi. Everyone continued laughing, but it slowly died down one by one as they noticed a speeding black object coming their way. It left a trail of dust as it made its way to the lake.

The car came to a halt right next to Kiyone and Mihoshi's car. Everyone just stared at the huge, blacked out SUV in front of them.

"Whew!" Ranma took a breath of fresh air as he stepped out of his truck. He was glad that he was finally here, he was getting real bored driving all by himself in the middle of nowhere.

He looked at his surroundings, immersed in green. He noticed the staring onlookers and walked over to greet them.

Everyone looked intently as the newcomer made his way towards them. His stride and composure oozed of confidence and his smile reflected as much. He sported an unusual pigtail that only added to his charisma. There was an attractive appeal to him that all the girls would've agreed upon, a bit of a bad boy character that intrigued many girls.

Kiyone was the only one who tried not to look impressed, trying to match his confidence. She tucked her arms across her chest casually. She looked at her wrist watch and nodded at Ranma, impressed. "It's 8:59. Got here almost on the dot, didn't you?"

Ranma raised his eyes at the shrewd comment. "It's a coincidence. Didn't think you'd be timing me." He glanced over at everyone else and raised a hand. "Hi, I'm Ranma. Ranma Saotome."

Everyone gathered around to quickly greet him. Like the first time he'd met Kiyone and Mihoshi, he immediately felt a strange presence amongst them. He looked over at the beautiful purple haired girl in the kimono, and the cute little girl with the vibrant blue hair. They were radiating a powerful aura, almost majestic, it was so distinct and unusual, nothing like Ranma had ever seen. He gave an inquisitive look at the little girl especially. She seemed to have TWO different auras at once. The other one was harder to detect, but he could swear it was like there were the souls of two people inside of her.

Sasami felt uncomfortable by the way he looked at her. "Is there something wrong, mister?"

Ryoko decided she would be the first to introduce herself as she was the least timid person of the group. "So you're Kiyone's new friend, huh? I'm Ryoko, former space pirate and demon."

Ranma snapped his attention away from the Jurai sisters and turned to Ryoko. "Nice to meet you. That's real funny, I don't think I've ever met a space pirate before."

Ryoko stuck out her tongue, she could practically feel Kiyone mentally cursing at her. "And what may I ask you do for a living, Saotome-san?"

"You can just call me Ranma." He hesitated for a moment, regarding his occupation. "I guess you can say I'm a cop, just like she is," he replied pointing at Kiyone.

Ryoko lifted an eyebrow. "First she says you're not a cop, and you say you are one?"

Ranma looked at Kiyone, who looked just as awkward as he did. "Well, I'm in a whole different ballpark than she is. How about you?"

Ryoko stepped back and gathered around her housemates. "I live here with Tenchi, his grandfather, the prissy princess, our little Sasami, Washu, and my pet cabbit Ryo-ohki." She started grinning. "Like I said, I used to be a space pirate before I settled down here," she said with a grin.

"Ryoko!" Ayeka's lips pursed. "Was it really necessary to introduce me in such a rude way?"

"I'm sure it's just a joke right? How are you miss, what's your name?" Ranma interjected.

Ayeka quickly smoothed herself out. "I'm Ayeka Jurai. It is a great pleasure to meet you, Saotome-san." She lifted a hand as she covered her face with the sleeves of her kimono.

Ranma suppressed a blush at how polite she was. "Same here. I'm sure she was just kidding with the princess part." He looked over at Ryoko again. "And that's really funny, Ryoko-san. You don't do anything for a living?"

Both girls tried to respond at the same time.

"Well, I may not be prissy, but I certainly am a princess," Ayeka replied with an air of dignity.

"I told you bud, I used to be a space pirate."

"Huh?" Ranma shook his head in confusion. He just went along with the joke. "That's real funny, ladies." He gave a weak laugh.

Kiyone was quick to interrupt. "Yeah, it is. Isn't it? That's my friends for ya." She tried to laugh but it came out weak as well.

"I like the space pirate one. Never heard that one before," Ranma said. He shut his mouth when he saw that both girls looked agitated.

It was just then he noticed something as he looked into Ryoko's eyes.

"What the - cat eyes!" he blurted, nearly tripping as he stepped back.

Ryoko was taken aback and looked hurt. "What about my eyes?" What the hell was wrong with this guy?

"Oh, she's a demon alright!" Ayeka butted in to pay back the mischief.

"Hold on, it's all right!" Kiyone shook Ranma out of his bewildered shock. She mentally slapped herself as things had turned weird out of nowhere.

Ranma mashed his eyes shut and blinked several times. He looked at Ryoko again and then at Kiyone, as well as everyone else who was looking at him with mouths agape. Ryoko clearly wasn't a cat, but his eyes confirmed that she literally had feline features.

Ranma stammered, backing away still. "I'm sorry. I have trouble around cats. I didn't mean to offend you."

"Afraid of cats? Seriously?" Ryoko crossed her arms. "Now how the heck do you acquire something like that?"

"Alright, alright. I'm gonna make this a whole lot easier and as painless as possible for everyone!" Washu walked out in front of everybody with a bemused look on her face.

"Wait, Washu-" Kiyone tried interrupting.

The short redhead stepped up to Ranma with her head barely up to his chest. "Ranma, my name's Washu. Don't worry about my daughter over here, because she's not a cat."

Ranma looked down at this diminutive young girl with her crab like hair. He was getting more confused by the second. "Daughter? What?"

"This isn't going to hurt a bit, so just bear with me," Washu said. She pulled out a silver rod from out of nowhere and lifted it up to Ranma's head.

It popped open and lengthened to match up with Ranma's eyes. He stared at a tiny glass rectangular lens that reminded him of a scene from a movie he had seen before.

"Hurt? What are you talking about? This looks like that memory eraser from that one movie," Ranma said, staring at the rod still

Kiyone gasped in horror as she realized what Washu was trying to do. Washu smirked as she clicked the trigger for her device, flashing a red pulse of energy into Ranma's eyes. He fell back and onto the ground, dazed.

Everyone else meeped as they watched Washu do her thing while Kiyone shook her shoulders in disbelief.

"What the hell did you just do?" Kiyone shrieked.

Washu tossed her device into a pocket of hyperspace which opened just as it was in the air. "I shot an alteration pulse into his neural synapses so that he'd be more receptive to suggestions. I set this baby up so he won't be gawking in disbelief when your little plan goes wrong and he drives off thinking we're all crazy."

"Hey, that did look like that one thingy in that one movie! Men in Black!" Mihoshi said delightfully.

Kiyone was still fixated on little Washu. "Are you sure you know what you're doing? You knocked him out!"

Washu shrugged Kiyone's hands off of her. "He's fine. It's like he's taking a nap, just wake him up."

Tenchi had seen the whole exchange and worriedly ran over with a pail of cold water to splash Ranma's face with. He feared just as badly for Ranma, as Washu's inventions were sometimes a bit crazy.

Kiyone held her breath again as she saw what Tenchi was about to do. "No, Tenchi , don't-!"

A female Ranma sat up from the grass and clutched her eyes, wondering why she had just fallen asleep. She looked up and saw Tenchi with a bucket in his hands, frozen in place. Ranma scanned everyone else, they all had similar expressions with the exception of Kiyone.

She wasn't overwhelmed with the usual anxious panic that occurred when new people found out about her curse. "Hold on, I can explain this."

--------------------

Half an hour and several dozen transformations of the curse later, Ranma sat around the picnic table in front of the lake amidst a bemused crowd.

"Wow, so that explains why you were afraid of my eyes. I never met anyone who was afraid of cats," Ryoko said.

Ranma was petting Ryo-ohki who was perched on his shoulder. She had accidentally spooked Ranma while he was telling everyone about how he got his curse, and he freaked out completely. However, he noticed that Ryo-ohki was a rabbit that had a cat face and a cat's meow, but it wasn't a cat.

"My dad thought that the neko-ken would make me stronger," Ranma replied.

"I still can't comprehend how your father sold you for food, and traded you off for his own benefit," said Ayeka.

"Well, Pop has always been like that, he was trained by a master who taught thievery and he always thinks with his stomach instead of his brain," Ranma said. "He's like a shoplifting kid who never grew up to feel guilty about it."

"Would your mom really force you to kill yourself for not being manly?" asked Sasami.

"Not really, when she found out I was 'Ranko' she forgave me because I acted manly even as a girl. She was disappointed more at my logic actually, the seppuku pledge was just something to keep my dad from doing stupid things, although even that didn't stop him. My mom told me she would never kill me over something so dumb."

"Well you're curse isn't that unusual," Tenchi said. "It may be hard for you to believe, but I believe in magic and unusual stuff like that. I think it's a fantastic thing to witness."

"It wasn't exactly fantastic when I first had to live with it, but it's not so bad anymore." Ranma looked down at his flat chest, glad to be a male whenever he could. "It became really handy a lot of times.

Kiyone silently prayed to the gods for everyone's easy understanding. He was a smooth operator and managed to charm over everyone easily.

Ranma looked around, still trying to grasp the awkward auras of ki surrounding him. He had been nice to them so far, he figured they would return the favor. "Well, since I've told you people about myself and my peculiarities, would any of you like to explain why none of you are human?"

Everyone froze at this comment, even Washu and Katsuhito were caught short with the comment Ranma had made. Katsuhito was the first to respond.

"What are you talking about son?"

Ranma tried not to look so accusative. "You know what I'm talking about. I can sense your auras, and they're nothing like anything I've felt here on earth. It's been like this since I met Kiyone and Mihoshi. Especially Sasami over there, that girl definitely has something wrong with her. She has two different flavors of ki on her at once."

Washu interjected before anyone else could try to conjure up a lie. She had prepared for this. "That's impressive, young man. You figured out that we weren't human when we didn't even tell you."

Young man? Ranma chuckled. "Are you trying to be the wise sage among you, pipsqueak?"

Washu snapped her fingers and grew out as an adult, metamorphosing right in front of him. Her eyes held a steely glare. "You were saying?"

Ranma sweatdropped.

"We'll try to explain," Kiyone said, sighing in defeat. She looked up at Washu, eyes pleading.

"You ready for a long tale?" Washu said in her sultry and matured voice.

Ranma nodded, more comfortable than he thought he'd be under the circumstances. "I'm all ears."

Ryoko giggled as she decided to phase out and grab the first ice chest full of beers to the table. "Oh, this is going to be good."

---------------------

Lunch was a lively affair, with gasps of shock and eager turns exchanged for storytelling shared amidst plates of barbecue.

"Damn!" Saying that Ranma was overwhelmed would be an understatement, he learned more about the universe and the outside world in the past half hour than his entire time in college.

"So a couple months ago you guys just came back from a huge war?"

"Yes, it wasn't too pleasant, but we won against Kagato again in the end and we all came back to earth because royalty was just too tedious," Ayeka said, chuckling politely under the cover of her sleeve.

"What she means is she missed Tenchi so much that she just ran away completely from her duties to be with him, and I joined her!" exclaimed Sasami while laughing.

Ranma tried to comprehend everything everyone told him so far, and it was a lot to swallow. However, it wasn't as strange as it sounded. Everything felt so easy to take in and he felt refreshingly understanding about the whole thing. He saw Washu snickering mischievously throughout each new story and explanation.

Kiyone munched away at her plate of food, reluctant to be as eager as her friends were. She almost wished Washu had zapped her too, to calm her nerves.

Ranma laughed as he clicked beer cans with the other adults. He looked at the morose Kiyone. "What's the matter?

"I guess you're not gonna want to hang around here anymore, now that you know that we're not from this planet," Kiyone said with her head was down.

Ranma lifted his eyebrows at Kiyone, he wasn't expecting this. "What makes you think that? I think this is totally cool! I wish I could've been with you people! I've always dreamed of going out to space! I'd kill to have a spaceship!" exclaimed Ranma excitedly.

"Wha-what?" Kiyone was caught off guard by Ranma's excitement, her jaw was hanging down, "You're not bothered at all by any of this?!"

"Well I was expecting something good since your past is all smoke and mirrors, but this was something else too." Ranma pondered. "I've had some weird stuff happen to me too, since I didn't tell you every little detail of my life, I'll tell you later. I don't think it's that weird, at least now I know we're not alone in the universe. And, I could use some of your advanced alien technology, especially from Washu, if everything she says is true," said Ranma.

"You've had weirder things happen?" Kiyone gave him a skeptical look.

"Not weirder, but pretty damn weird." Like fighting gods and godly perverts, Ranma thought.

"I'm glad you finally know the truth though," Kiyone said. "It could've been a lot worse."

"It's still a bit much, but I'll live," Ranma replied. He looked at the huge floating onsen in the middle of the lake. It had been camouflaged to be invisible before Ranma's arrival by Washu.

Katsuhito approached him from behind and tapped his shoulder. "So, young man. Since you've been practicing martial arts your entire life, you must be a pretty good?"

Ranma nodded. "I think I know a thing or two." He flexed his biceps and arms up with a huge smile, much to the amusement of all the girls.

"You sound like a formidable young warrior," Katsuhito said, also amused at his playful demeanor. "How about a practice match with my grandson? You two can spar out here by the lake."

Tenchi was munching some grilled veggies and nearly spat them out. "Oh come on, grandpa! He's a lot older than me and we're just out here having fun."

Ranma shrugged his shoulders, watching his hosts and staying quiet to their requests.

Katsuhito tsked. "Come on, Tenchi. It's not often we get visitors here, and you only practice with me. See how you match up against him."

Ryoko whistled. "A match against Tenchi? Ranma here may be a cutey but he's no match for our man!"

Ayeka nodded, matching Ryoko's enthusiasm. "I agree, it's dangerous for a human to go against one of Jurai's noble. He could get hurt."

Ranma frowned. His guests were very nice to him, but he still took a challenge to his fighting skills seriously. Tenchi was a nice looking kid, but didn't look serious. "Hey now, just because I'm older than him doesn't mean I'll be some pushover. I've trained in the art my whole life, I can take on anybody."

Kiyone squeezed his arm and pulled his ear close to her mouth. "He just defeated an entire galaxy of evil forces, and he has the light hawk wings of Juraian power. You can't beat him!"

"He may be strong," Ranma said, remember the stories they had told him earlier. "But I bet you he's not as skilled."

Kiyone blinked. "What's the point if he can crush you without touching you?"

Tenchi wanted to stay neutral and wasn't intent on goading on either his grandpa, Ayeka and Ryoko, or Ranma. Washu however, looked amused. She stood up and pointed to both Ranma and Tenchi.

"I for one, would like to see how they do in a match. No extra energy though and no Jurai-powers involved," Washu said.

Katsuhito smiled. "Which is exactly what I planned."

"You read my mind, old man," Ranma said. He stood up, getting ready to stretch.

Tenchi sighed but steeled himself as he walked out into the open grass away from the picnic tables. He watched as Ranma walked out in front of him, stretching his limbs and loosening his joints. Tenchi looked at Ranma carefully, who was the same height as him and had the presence of an older, and much more experienced combatant. But he wasn't the same shy boy he was before, eager to skip his grandpa's daily sword fighting lessons and his chores at the shrine. His skirmishes with the rest of the galaxy, saving the damsels in distress, and defeating Kagato had been influential in carving him out of his boyhood shell.

Tenchi raised up his arms, a basic fighting stance from Juraian combat arts. Ranma readied himself as well, his hands at his chest and comfortably resting. Both regarded each other carefully.

"You don't look as comfortable as you should be with bare hands," Ranma said.

Tenchi blinked. "I usually fight with a sword and train with a bokken."

Katsuhito nodded. "It's the way of the Juraian knight," he said. "We train both ways, but the way of the sword is the essence of our style."

Ranma lowered his arms. "I don't mind if you fight with a bokken, makes no difference to me."

The spectators regarded him warily, wondering if he was being cocky or if they thought he didn't know he was giving Tenchi an unfair edge. To the girls, a fighter with a bokken versus an unarmed fighter seemed like a mismatch.

Tenchi grabbed a bokken that his grandpa threw at him and readied it in front of him, his grip on the hilt firmly in place. His confidence grew leaps and bounds, and he no longer regarded Ranma as a threat.

"Whenever you two are ready," Washu announced. She sat on top of one of the tables with some popcorn.

Ranma raised his fists and slowly started skipping side to side and advanced slowly towards his opponent. "Let's see what you got, boy."

Neither made an attack first, and Tenchi regarded the pigtailed man carefully to gather his fighting style. It looked like he was skipping around like a boxer, but his palms were open in a kenpo stance.

Tenchi made the first attack, jabbing consecutively with thrusts of his bokken. He followed through with several technical slashes, coming across naturally with brute force and elegant execution from years of conditioned training.

Ranma avoided it by jumping back and defensively shifting, also observing his opponents footwork. He narrowly avoided a lightning quick slash from an unknown direction, parrying a couple of attacks with his own kicking feet. He was curious by what martial arts from outer space looked like, and he was almost caught off guard. The exotic difference in Tenchi's sword fighting style to the styles he had encountered in his own travels didn't disappoint, and he continued to play along to his defensive strategy.

"Kyaa!" Tenchi made another battle cry as he slew another barrage of attacks, this time more successfully. He grew irritated this time around, wondering why he hadn't been able to get a single hit yet. His opponent seemed unable to block his attacks and could only retreat, he read Ranma's moves and could tell he was confused.

"Yeow!" Ranma narrowly avoided yet another slash, this time to his Achilles heel. He continued to observe his opponent, looking at the way his knees bent and shoulders rotated, the force of the snap on his wrists as he slashed, the way his eyes followed Ranma's own movements.

And then finally, Ranma saw what he was waiting for. He rushed in and anticipated a jab and stepped in and tripped Tenchi right on his back, knocking one of his hands off the bokken. He grabbed the hand with his bokken and twisted it back, manipulating it to force Tenchi to roll over onto his stomach with his arm restrained on to the small of his back. Tenchi yelped, and Ranma released him, jumping back.

Ayeka and Ryoko shrieked. Mihoshi, Nobuyuki, and Sasami looked on with wild eyes, wondering what had just happened. Washu whooped and Kiyone cheered on. Katsuhito had a very subtle crease form at his cheeks.

Tenchi scrambled defensively back onto his feet, grabbing his bokken in the process. He looked up at Ranma angrily, wondering what in the world had just happened. His body had been forced and manipulated against his will, and while it hadn't hurt the whole action was so seamlessly executed he felt almost violated. He felt his face burning and his light hawk wings forming.

Ranma's concentration broke for a moment as he felt a surge of power weaken his knees as he saw a glowing white entity form around Tenchi's body. He saw Katsuhito yelling at Tenchi, and the white light disappeared immediately.

"That was crazy! If you bring those out I'd be a goner!" Ranma exclaimed, impressed at his alien powers.

Tenchi grimaced, unwilling to concede even without his powers. He dashed forward, going for another aggressive attack.

Without the same skipping footwork, Ranma stepped forward and anticipated Tenchi's path. His observations had been pretty complete, and Tenchi had reused the same forms over again. No matter how exotic, Ranma learned how to attack his enemies without being shown twice. He used Tenchi's own forward momentum to flip him over and then disarmed him similarly like before by knocking his weapon off of him. Ranma's foot was on Tenchi's chest with his right arm locked in a standing arm bar, with his forearm locked at Tenchi's elbow for a fulcrum.

"Do you yield?" Ranma asked.

Tenchi hissed in pain, his other hand tapping the ground. "I do!"

Ranma helped the boy up from his ground, and rubbed his shoulder and arm. "Sorry, hope I didn't hurt you."

Tenchi swung his arms around and looked at his elbow. He hadn't been hit once, and was only given take downs. "I'm fine," he said dejectedly.

Ranma pat him on the shoulder. "Don't worry about it, you have a lot more to live and learn." Ranma raised his fists. "I'm a hand-to-hand guy. That's why I didn't mind you using your bokken. I have to tell you, your Juraian fighting style sure is something. But it still doesn't change the fact that you're limited by the way you can attack with a sword compared to your bare hands."

Katsuhito clapped, as did Washu. Ayeka and Ryoko grumbled at Tenchi's loss, claiming foul play. The rest were cheering at the marvelous display that both men had shown.

"You're right, he may be a boy..." Katushito without warning attacked Ranma with a couple of jabs and roundhouse kicks, all of them blocked or avoided. "But I'm a different story. So how about it?"

"You're a sword fighter too, though." Ranma smiled, planning his next move. "Why bother? I'll just take you down like your grandson."

Katsuhito smiled, ignoring his attempts to anger him with taunts. "I've had 700 years of practice, trust me boy."

Ranma raised a brow and decided to go on the offensive. He threw a couple of karate strikes and successive kicks, parrying back and forth with Katsuhito. Like Ranma had been doing to Tenchi, Katsuhito was mostly avoiding his attacks. He figured the old coot was trying to learn a way inside his defenses.

Old age was not a debilitating factor for Katsuhito, as he wasn't like any other normal being. His white hakama fluttered as Ranma's punches barely missed his body. An overextended punch presented itself and Katsuhiko took hold of Ranma's straightened arm, and with a surge of flashing speed he elbowed Ranma in the chest which allowed another opening to sweep him on the ground.

The pigtailed boy felt his breathing jolt from the hit and he softly positioned his back to roll back as he felt his legs get swept from under him. Ranma rolled back and onto his feet and managed to deflect down a devastating punch aimed at his solar plexus, one that could very well send him to the hospital. With another surprising dash of speed, he let another punch slip by that stopped short of hitting his stomach. The change in air pressure from the speed and power of the punch caused a blast of wind that ruffled Ranma's hair.

The crowd watched spellbound. Ryoko cheered for the old man to kick Ranma's ass, the others were sitting and watching the affair like a movie. Ranma stumbled back, rubbing the part of his chest where he was elbowed.

Ranma clicked his tongue. "Not bad, old man. I never would've dreamed you were that fast. My eyes and intuition said you're nowhere near capable of that kind of power or speed. But I guess that's why you guys are all aliens, right?"

"It's still a thousand years too early for you, boy!" Katsuhito cackled. He fingered his grey moustache proudly.

"Well, I'm not finished either," Ranma said. He cracked his knuckles and got into a karate stance this time. His eyes were set dead ahead on his opponent.

Before Katsuhito could brush off Ranma's newly revived threat, he saw an unexpected blur and a battle cry that made no sense to him. Before he knew it, Katsuhito found himself on the ground, paralyzed before Ranma had finished yelling "Kachuu Tenshin Amaguriken*."

*Chestnuts Roasting on an Open Fire.

Tenchi gasped watching his grandpa fall on the floor with Ranma standing over him, defeated. He had been watching them closely with his undivided attention, and couldn't see Ranma's hands during his vision blurring display of speed. "What did you do to grandpa!?"

The rest of the Tenchi household gawked, speechless. They watched as Ranma bent down and poked a few pressure points on Katsuhito's motionless body.

Katsuhito breathed deeply and pat his body down, wondering how he had been incapacitated. He looked up to see Ranma extend a hand. He grabbed it and helped himself off the ground.

"Not bad, old man. I think you might've been a thousand years too naïve to think I can be beaten so easily," Ranma said. "Care for another?"

Katsuhito smiled. He liked this kid. "Certainly.

Ranma still had a surprised smile on his face as a gust of pillowy ki launched him into the middle of Masaki lake.

***

April 14th , 2001. 8:46 PM

Tendo Residence - Nerima, Tokyo.

"I can't believe how fast your arm healed after Ranma broke it, Ryoga."

Ryoga's clenched his teeth. He still couldn't believe how easily Ranma took him out. He underestimated him, like a foolish amateur. "As soon as I find that bastard, I'm gonna beat him to a bloody pulp," he hissed.

Akane sighed. "We shouldn't have provoked him. Things went bad with you two within minutes. Knowing him, he probably learned a thing or two living on his own. None of us back home have had to deal with much insanity since Ranma left us."

"He caught me by surprise. I shouldn't have charged in so quickly," Ryoga spat. "I'm better now too. I didn't spend all these years doing nothing either."

Akane tried her best to calm her husband down, but she knew all too well just how stubborn Ryoga could be when it came to being beat, especially by Ranma. She was hoping maybe her and Ranma could settle their differences. But Cologne, Ryoga, Kuno, Nabiki, and even she had pushed his buttons. Deep inside, she knew she couldn't blame him. It was a difficult circumstance, but it was her relationship with Ryoga in Ranma's absence that had caused his departure years ago.

But Akane never imagined that he would change so much. Ranma was a different person now. Even in the short time she saw him, Akane knew right away the destructive and moody man who broke her husband's arm was not the pigtailed boy she had fallen in love with when she was a teenager.

Akane and Ryoga both turned their heads as the door popped open to reveal Nabiki in a slick trench coat.

"Jesus, Nabiki. Don't you even knock anymore?" Ryoga asked.

"As far as I'm concerned you're still the guest here, Ryoga," Nabiki replied with derision.

Ryoga was used to Nabiki's quips whenever she visited home to stay with the family. It was a break from her job, which demanded much of her time as far as the rest of the family knew. She never really talked about her job, it was mostly a mystery and never quite prodded into. It was the same from when they were teenagers, nobody questioned Nabiki's methods of income for the dojo. That same attitude carried over as they became adults.

"Hey sis, guess what I found," Nabiki said. The look on her face meant she had found something juicy.

Akane wasn't as interested, as her mind was occupied elsewhere. "What is it oneechan?"

Nabiki opened up her large work purse and pulled out a thick manilla folder and a couple of videotapes. The jacket had big red letters stamped on it.

Akane knew enough English to read what it said.

[EYES ONLY! TOP SECRET MATERIAL ENCLOSED]

Ryoga and Akane's jaws dropped when they saw whose name was on the file.

The satisfaction in Nabiki's face was replaced with a concerned scowl. "I found out all the dirty little details of the past five years of Ranma's life."

***

April 14th , 2001. 9:00 PM

Masaki Lakefront – Okayama Mountains, Japan.

Ranma laughed as he watched Tenchi's father and grandfather give him another pour of sake into his cup. The poor boy was already drunk, and didn't receive any help from some of his girlfriends as they goaded the older men into getting him more plastered. It was Tenchi's inaugural drink into adulthood, one of many barriers he would cross now that he was finished with high school.

His own stomach comfortably settled with even more food from the ongoing barbecue that was still going strong. Ranma settled on the grass by the lake and look at the bright reflection on the still water from the power lamps of the floating onsen that illuminated the entire Masaki mountain area. The soft, luminescence surrounding the forests and the grass to the Masaki house beautifully enveloped the peaceful ambience.

Kiyone walked over to his side, a couple of glasses in her hand and a large handle of scotch whiskey in the other. She sat down next to him and handed him a glass.

"Is that my Blue-Label?" Ranma asked.

Kiyone smiled. "Thought it'd be a good time to take it out. I had to hide it otherwise these jerks will just hog it all."

Ranma laughed and received a generous pour of the amber liquid into his cup. It was filled 3/4 of the way up, and Kiyone filled hers up the same. Ranma leaned back comfortably, lying on the incline, before the edge of the ground dipped into the lake.

Ryoko floated over with her tail wagging, hovering around the bottle in Kiyone's hand. "What is that, I see? Have you been hiding something nice without sharing with us?"

Kiyone's eyes narrowed. "I didn't bring it out because I knew you'd just guzzle it all without appreciating it."

Mihoshi came to their side, rows of shot glasses in between her fingers. "Hee, hee. We can play a drinking game to see who gets to kiss Tenchi when he passes out!"

Ryoko squealed excitedly. Everyone had been drinking their fair share throughout the whole day, and the only inexperienced drinker was Tenchi himself. She snatched the bottle away from Kiyone's hand and ran off with Mihoshi in tow, both of them giggling.

"Why you!" Kiyone went to go chase after them, but a hand on her ankle made her stop. She looked down.

"Don't worry about them," Ranma said, raising his glass. "We've already got ours, right? Let them have their fun."

Kiyone brushed herself off and hmphed. She sat down on the incline next to Ranma's right and nuzzled her own glass close to her face and took a sip. "Mmmm. It's such a waste for them though."

Ranma laughed. "We can always get another. I picked it up cheap, duty free."

"Oh, very well." Kiyone happily bounced her head lightly from left to right as she drank some more, her cheeks turning rosy as she blew out a cool breath.

"That's a nice group of friends you got there," Ranma said. He raised his glass and clinked hers. "I liked 'em right away, even if they're all out of this world."

"They're more than friends," Kiyone said. "They're family."

"Nice family."

Both of them laid in the grass together in silence, listening to the cheers and jeers coming from the picnic tables. They laughed as they leaned over to see the usually graceful Ayeka howling crisply as she took down a burning shot of liquor along with Mihoshi and Ryoko.

Kiyone lifted her right leg up and crossed it over her left, resting and bouncing it on her knee. Her light, fair skin reflected some of the light coming off the lake and her painted white toe nails shimmered. Ranma's eyes took note, and he traced her legs back down to her thighs. Her cargo shorts had slipped and pulled back, revealing more than they were supposed to. He looked at the rest of her.

"You look really nice in that outfit. Looks good on you," Ranma commented.

"Now you notice?" Kiyone huffed lightly. She had been waiting for him to notice or say something all day. She looked away, her face pensive.

"What? Oh hey, come on." Ranma sat up straight and tried to get her to pay attention to him. "Did I say something wrong? What's the matter?"

Kiyone continued looking away, her eyes darting back at his for a moment and then back into the open night.

Ranma brushed the tip of his nose and took a gulp of his drink. He tried to inch closer to her, his right arm propped close to Kiyone's neck and her teal hair. He looked down at her, and she rebuffed his advance.

"You look beautiful."

Kiyone turned her head in surprise. Her eyes strained as she looked him in the face, and then her eyes widened slightly. She reached up and pinched his nose shut and started laughing.

"Ow, ow!" Ranma jerked back and rubbed his nose. "What was that for?"

She stopped laughing to catch her breath and wiped away a tear. She leaned on an elbow and rested her head on her hand. "Why so serious?"

Ranma snorted and joined her in laughter. He leaned and fell onto his back again, his head next to Kiyone's. A bright flash interrupted them as Washu stood in front with a camera in hand.

"Aww, how cute. I got you both laughing next to each other on candid camera," Washu said. She pressed a button that projected a holographic photo of them in front. "See? Came out perfect."

Ranma held his mouth as he stopped laughing and Kiyone turned bright red. Both tried to reach out and snatch the camera.

"Not so fast!" Washu said. "This is a joyous memento for the both of you."

"Washu! You give that back and erase it right now!" Kiyone screeched. She tried to get up and Ranma again held her down by grabbing her arm this time.

"Leave it be. Why bother?" Ranma said.

Kiyone gave up and tossed and turned on the ground. "You don't understand. There's no end with her."

"Eh," Ranma replied, shrugging.

She narrowed her eyes at him, a Cheshire grin among her features. "Don't get any funny ideas, Captain."

He looked over at her with eyes narrowed too, but with a straight lip. "I wouldn't dream of it."

A side of Kiyone's lip curled. "Bottoms up." She poured the rest of her liquor, a considerable amount, down her throat. She felt her whole head burn like it was on fire.

Ranma refrained from doing the same. "You ok?"

A fake smile crossed Kiyone's face. "I'm fine."

He watched as she got up and walked towards the other girls, still in the middle of their drinking game with Tenchi in the middle. He chuckled as he watched Kiyone walking clumsily, the alcohol affecting her balance. "Still playing the game, I see," Ranma quietly said.

Washu walked over to Ranma with something in her hand, her big red hair bouncing as she skipped towards him. Ranma watched with fascination at the little girl, who was really an old woman and the greatest scientific genius in the universe, as he was told.

"I got a little something for you, and I think you'll find it useful," Washu said. She had a small flask in her hand with a silver bevel top and bottom and wrapped with pinkish red leather, the same exact distinct color as her hair.

Ranma looked at it, and noticed two buttons. One was blue, the other was dark red. "What is it?"

Washu pressed the blue button and cold water poured out in a smooth stream out of the spout. Ranma's curse triggered and she wiped away her face, annoyed.

"Did you come all the way here to play with my curse again, little Washu?" the now female Ranma asked.

"Tsk, tsk." This time Washu pushed the red button, and a stream of lukewarm water cascaded out and changed Ranma back. "Ye of so little faith, may I present you the Washu Thermos."

Ranma wiped his now male face of water and looked at her. "What?"

Washu cackled out loud. "This little flask here is a controlled temperature thermos that is linked directly to my laboratory for an unlimited supply of cold and hot water. And it's the perfect temperature at all times too! Never too hot, never too cold, just enough to trigger your curses back and forth. That's why I had fun splashing you over and over earlier."

"What?" Ranma looked at the device with eyes wide open. "How, what?"

"Try not to think too hard how it works, because you'll never get it," Washu said. She pat Ranma on the head and tossed him his new toy. "And I don't leave out the little details either. Naturally I made the water purified, so you can drink it. You can control the temperature with the turn dial on the bottom if you want for colder or hotter pours, in case you need a cool drink or some instant ramen."

"No shit?" Ranma looked at the flask in his hand. It was incredibly then and easy to hold. It was an easy fit in all of his pockets. He looked up at Washu, impressed. "That's amazing. What else can you do?"

"Well if you have to ask," she said, her palm open and pointed as she brought it up to her chin. "I'll start with some of your own stuff. How's that?"

"My own stuff?" Ranma looked confused. "Like what?"

"Hand over your gun," Washu said.

Ranma looked hesitant but he reluctantly drew his Sig Sauer P226 from his holster. He unloaded it and removed the magazine. "What are you going to do with it?"

Washu examined the steel pistol in her hands and shook her head. "This piece of ancient history? You couldn't even shoot something across the lake!"

Ranma looked confused. "You don't say."

"You want a Galaxy Police issue blaster? I can get plenty of those, easy. Heck, even Kiyone could probably help you out."

Ranma shook his head. "No, I don't know anything about that. No need for blasters or the Galaxy Police or whatever."

"Oh well." Washu tossed the gun over her shoulder and it disappeared into a pocket in hyperspace. Another pistol popped out and landed in Ranma's hands. "Try that one."

Ranma looked down in surprise, his mind was still amazed at some of the incredible alien technology that Washu had demonstrated for him. He looked down at his gun, it looked the same as before except it came with another suppressor attached to where barrel threads were. "What's this?"

"Better, faster, stronger. Lighter too, don't you think?" Washu proudly crossed her arms.

He hefted the pistol in his hand, and nearly dropped it in surprise. It was lighter, almost like a toy. The grip and the slide felt like cold steel, but the weight made it feel unnatural. Like a paradox of physics. "It's too light!"

"Try shooting it! Go ahead, pop off a few in the lake," Washu said.

Ranma looked at her skeptically and aimed the pistol into the water. He braced himself with a strong grip, fearing that a light pistol would equal unmanageable recoil. With a few light squeezes of the trigger the slide racked back with a very muted clink-clink, the only audible noise was a light whistle from the bullet flight and the ejected shells popping out of the extractor. There was no suppressor hiss, and the muted explosion of a casing full of gunpowder was nowhere to be heard. This time Ranma did drop his gun.

"What the hell?" He felt his throat go dry.

Washu picked it up, holding the pistol with both of her small hands. "Neat, isn't it? And you didn't feel any recoil, did you?"

Ranma's eyes widened even further. "You're right!"

Washu clicked the guide-rod laser's activation switch on the takedown lever. A crisp and bright laser shot out and reached far beyond the normal range of a laser sight, illuminating a dot visible all the way from the other side of the lake. "Did a little number for you, all around. The magazine is bottomless, it's connected to a dimensional portal that feeds constantly from my lab. A laser that can be seen as far as the eye can see, a suppressor that completely silences, and bullets that don't lose energy and shoot straight until they hit. Now how do you like that?"

Ranma looked at her, feeling like an insignificant ant. "Thanks?"

"Oh, of course you're welcome," Washu said, waving him off exaggeratedly. "Oh, and that's not all. Look over there."

Ranma saw her pointing to his car and when she snapped her fingers it was swallowed up by another huge dimensional pocket.

Washu spoke up before he had a chance to protest. "Oh, you have even more goodies? A few more guns, a car that has armor built in. Why, I'll fix these up in a jiffy."

She snapped her fingers again and in the void another identical looking car appeared, with no discernable changes to Ranma's eyes.

"There, gave you a couple of extras I'm sure you'll like," Washu said, winking. "You can thank me later next time you visit by letting me do some experiments on you in my lab."

Ranma unscrewed his new suppressor and holstered his pistol. "What did you do?"

Washu tapped her feet. "The same thing to your other guns. Armor on your car that actually works. And a killer air freshener, courtesy of me. I invented it years ago to sell to space cruisers, but it never took off in the market."

Ranma blinked. "Oh. Wow. Great." He scratched his head. "Thanks?"

-------------

Kiyone watched from the table and saw Ranma shooting into the lake with his gun. He looked like he was having a hard time dealing with Washu, waving his arms about and switching from looking confused to amazed.

Ryoko bumped into her shoulder, with Ayeka pulling Ryoko's sleeves back to keep her from toppling over. Tenchi was already in the late stages of looking sick to passing out, with Mihoshi still going strong. The elder Masaki men were chatting and drinking quietly, laughing over nothing in particular between their own sips of sake.

"You brought a real interesting guy, Kiyone," Ryoko slurred. She tickled Kiyone's chin with her finger. "You think he's a keeper?"

Kiyone smacked her hand away and looked the other way. "I just met him, and I just got to know him today."

Mihoshi whispered something in Ayeka's ear, who then covered her face and started laughing "to-ho-ho-ho" loudly as she leaned over to whisper into Ryoko's ear.

"Bwahaha!" Ryoko exploded. "I'd say that's about right!"

"What is it?" Kiyone demanded. She looked over at Mihoshi. "What did you tell them, Mihoshi?"

Mihoshi put a finger to her cheek and stuck her tongue out slightly. "Sorry Kiyone, I'm not telling!"

"That's it!" Kiyone wiped her face. She was drunk and ready to take them on. She lunged for her partner first.

Washu skipped over to the tables with her bubbly mood in tow and she walked past the mayhem to Tenchi's now near-dead form. She snapped her fingers and a plastic medicine spoon with a recessed storage handle dropped into her hands. She stuck it in Tenchi's mouth and tilted his head back so he would take it all down. She stepped back and watched Tenchi immediately revive, his alcohol tolerance boosted temporarily for the night.

"Can't have you passing out early now, Tenchi-dono," Washu said, clicking her tongue. She made a loud 'ahem' to get Kiyone's attention long enough before she strangled Mihoshi. "I think it's time we all went inside for some karaoke, wouldn't you say? I just installed a new system in the living room, just for this occasion."

Mihoshi managed to slip away long enough to join the rest of the household as they cheered and got up to clean up and make their way into the house. Kiyone slumped and sat in her seat, looking defeated. Washu yelled over for Ranma, who came over to join them.

"You're going to join us for karaoke before you go, aren't you?" Washu asked sweetly.

He looked over at Kiyone, who had her face down on the table. She looked up at him, expressionless, awaiting his answer.

Ranma shrugged. "I guess, why not."

Washu nodded and went to join the rest of the family as they walked back towards the Masaki home. Ranma and Kiyone were left behind at the table.

He reached out his hand for Kiyone to grab. "This was the way to meet the family, huh?"

Kiyone grabbed his hand and helped herself up, woozy from all the drinking. She latched around his waist and started walking towards the house with him. "If you say so."

[End Chapter 3]

Disclaimer: This is fan fiction, I don't plan to make a profit out of someone else's work, just don't sue me. All respective trademarks, copyrights, whatever-rights, theirs and not mine.

Author's Ramble: Oooooh! This revision has been taunting me for so long! I was literally growling with joy because I finally conquered it. Believe it or not, I had lots of trouble getting through it even though I had the original chapter to source off of. Oh pooh. But Now I've caught a bit of a bug, and after rereading chapter 4 after reading this... I think I might venture into yet another revision. Sigh.

Author's Notes:

I had to do this revision, which almost turned out to be a downright complete rewrite (about 95% of this is new and altered). It's a little bit longer than the previous chapter 4, I fixed a couple of continuation errors (that are reflected for later chapters), and most important of all I fixed the characterization of all the canon traits of each character. Everytime I reread the old, original version of this chapter, I wept. I wept because it sucked so hard and it was my very first attempt ever all those years ago at any sort of prose story writing. This revision isn't exactly a work I'm super proud of and isn't the best it can be either, but I wanted to finish it quickly so that I could move on and do chapter 8 (as of Nov. 17, 2008).

The old chapter had Ranma being Mr. Cool Guy with all the stereotypes of a fucking douche and Kiyone being the lovestruck cunt that I totally hate reading about in crappy fanfics. I tried to match it up more to a hard-to-get type personality that I can imagine a veterano policia heina like her being, and tried to do that without making things to hostile. I also smoothed out the whole Washu gadgetry and stuff here without making it too much of a distraction, and tried to make it a whole lot more natural.

And also I revised the whole Ranma versus Tenchi and Katsuhito scene into something a lot more readable although I won't say it'll appeal to all the Tenchi Muyo-fags who go gay over how powerful his lightwings are and how Yosho is just uber powerful with all his Juraian glory. I specifically made the fight into a skill based one, and I always thought Ranma's hand-to-hand combat was far better tuned than some of the tamer stuff I've seen from Tenchi. I know I'll get flamed for this either way, but that's how I portrayed it.

So other than the other fix, that's it for this. Look forward to chp 8, which I've named Reciprocity for now (subject to change), and is already on its way being written. Hopefully it'll be a lot quicker than the super long time I take in between my other chapters.

PLEASE, PLEASE, PLEASE SEND ME FEEDBACK!!! I write way faster when people give me feedback! My e-mail is . Oh, for stupid fanfiction dot net readers, it's SgtRanma AT yahoo dot com. Goddamnit I hate their stupid anti html link horseshit.

Finished November 17, 2008.


	4. 04 Crime Spree

IMPORTANT!!!!!!! If this is the first time you're reading  
this fic, you must read starting from Chapter 1 completely  
first! This story will seem very ridiculous and out of  
place if you don't.  
  
This fic is a crossover with Ranma and the Tenchi  
OAV/Universe series. The rest of the Tenchi characters will  
be introduced in this chapter, and there will be a couple of  
fun surprises as well. Hopefully you readers know some basic  
knowledge about both Ranma and Tenchi:) Compared to movies,  
I would rate this as a "R" fanfic, because of some of the  
harsh language used. This ain't a lemon though, I don't plan  
on having any sex scenes at all.  
  
Here are a few things you must know while reading this:  
  
-For all of you readers, PLEASE read the notes at the end of  
the fic before you start flaming me for things that you  
don't understand or think is bogus, my notes just might  
answer all your questions.  
  
-The Ranma aspect of the story takes place after manga 38  
and the Tenchi aspect takes place after the TV show/OVA.  
  
-At the end of manga 38 Ranma was at the end of his  
sophomore year in Furinken High School and the year is set  
to 1992. Don't ask why, I chose that particular date out of  
convenience. This is to punctuate the times that Akane and  
Ranma met during their lives.  
  
-Also Ranma still has his curse, but his female form has  
black hair (like the manga) and is now just as tall as his  
male form.  
  
-For now in this universe Ranma's curse is accepted just  
about everywhere with a quick explanation by Ranma. Don't  
ask why, it just makes the story easier to understand.  
  
-The XXX-XXX-XX and etc. numbers that you read on the  
psychology reports are just a fake depiction by me, I don't  
really know what the numbers would be in real life, I'm not  
a psychologist, but when the characters in the fic (Akane,  
Nabiki, Ryoga) read it, they see it as actual numbers, not  
X's.  
  
-The depicted show "LAPD: Life on the Beat" is real, except  
that after the infamous Rampart scandal in the LAPD last  
year, the show was immediately canceled. When it did air, it  
was a great show, it got many high ratings, more than  
"COPS", and it is one of the most exciting and intense shows  
ever made (until it's tragic canceling after the Rampart  
Scandal), the programmers edit almost nothing, except for  
any swearing.  
  
-Ranma will seem very out of character, but you have to  
completely read from the first chapter to understand why.  
  
-SgtRanma  
  
Please visit my website at http://sgtranma.0catch.com! New  
fics will always appear there first! And I update often!  
  
------------------------  
  
  
Chapter 4: Crime Spree  
  
  
April 17th, 2001.  
Akane & Ryoga's Room, Tendo Home - Nerima, Japan. 8:52 PM  
  
"I found out all the dirty little details of the past  
five years of Ranma's life," Nabiki said, smirking.  
  
Ryoga and Akane could only stare at the thick jacket  
filled with papers and the two videotapes held in Nabiki's  
arm. The brown folder had a large red stamp on it, Akane  
knew enough English to read what it said, [EYES ONLY! TOP  
SECRET MATERIAL ENCLOSED]. The tip of the folder had a  
crude, typed sticker attached to it, it read [Saotome,  
Ranma] in big bold letters.  
  
"It took a lot of man power and some serious government  
contacts to get this crap, but now, we're finally gonna find  
out what the hell happened to Ranma." Nabiki said, sitting  
down on Akane's bed and laying out the thick pile of  
documents and reports from the folder.  
  
Ryoga didn't get lost anymore, thanks to his GPS tracker  
that he always carried to his side, it was embarrassing to  
have a machine to always tell you where to go (even to the  
bathroom), it wasn't as embarrassing as getting lost in the  
middle of a closet. One advantage however to getting lost a  
lot in foreign places and countries was that you got to  
learn many different cultures and languages. Ryoga read the  
English with ease, he had a twisted sense of logic and was  
violent at times, but he wasn't as stupid as most people  
thought.  
  
"Nabiki, what would happen if you got caught with that?  
It says it's top secret, how did someone like you obtain  
it?" asked Ryoga, his eyes were narrowed and was glaring at  
Nabiki, he may be his sister in law but he still didn't  
trust her fully, she kept way too many things secret to  
herself.  
  
Nabiki glared right back, although she wasn't very  
angry, she was just annoyed with the fact that Ryoga seemed  
to be pushing it. "I got these from a contact in the JNSA's  
Tokyo headquarters, he works with my company for info and I  
just asked him to do a favor. And don't worry about getting  
caught, my guy took these out secretly and legally by  
transferring it as research and developing information, it's  
untraceable.  
  
Ryoga relaxed a bit at that, but he was still nervous  
with the fact that they were in possession of illegal  
secrets.  
  
Akane sifted through different photos, her facial  
expressions changing from smiles, to sadness, and from looks  
of absolute horror. All of the pictures were marked and had  
descriptions on them, Akane held a ghastly photo of a dead  
corpse, the head and mouth were shot up, there was a clean  
hole straight through the forehead, but the mouth was blown  
open and unnaturally tangled, the gums were split wide open  
and the nasal cavity was exposed, the blood stained teeth  
mere mangled and mixed in all the carnage.  
  
Akane nauseously shifted her eyes down to the  
description at the bottom of the photo to read what it said:  
  
  
-------------  
  
12/14/2000: SIS homicide executed by Sgt. Saotome, Ranma.  
Van Nuys gang bust. Suspect killed instantly with rounds to  
cranium and oral passage. Approved legitimate by District  
Attorney on 12/19/2000. Supervising officer: Capt. Davis,  
Gray.  
  
-------------  
  
"Legitimate homicide executed by Sergeant Saotome Ranma?  
Approved by the DA? What the hell is going on?" said Akane,  
fear dripping in her voice.  
  
Ryoga was looking at a picture of Ranma getting a medal  
of some sort at a ceremony, the description on the bottom of  
the picture said it was the Medal of Valor. He looked over  
at the various pictures of dead bodies in Akane's hands, he  
recoiled in horror at what he saw, different men and women  
shot dead or fatally beaten. All the pictures described in  
horrific detail what had happened, and all of them described  
them as legitimate deaths.  
  
Ryoga closed his eyes and took a deep breath. He had  
always been the one who vowed to kill Ranma, he had said it  
often and violently, but he never once killed anyone in his  
entire life. He only said those things because he was driven  
by a pitiful vengeance.  
  
And now, ironically, Ranma was the one who had killed  
people, many of them, almost too many to count. The boy who  
used to always forgive and forget and never seemed to take  
anything too seriously was now a veteran killer, although it  
was all for the sake of the safety of the public. Ryoga  
shivered at the thought, Ranma killing people like this was  
unimaginable.  
  
Nabiki had seen the pictures too, they were hard to  
believe, and seemed to farfetched to be true. However,  
right now Nabiki was carefully reading a stapled packet of  
various psychological reports, they were all labeled as the  
products of police psychologist. Nabiki's eyes were wide  
with interest and horror as she read what the reports said.  
  
----------------  
  
File No. XXXX-XXX-XXXXX-XX-PSYOPS [MANDATORY]  
  
Los Angeles Police Department - Psychological Trauma Unit  
Metropolitan Division  
  
Time Stamped: March 24, 1998.  
  
Subject: Saotome, Ranma - Badge No. 18991  
Post: Hollywood Division  
Rank Status: Patrolman 1 [P1] Officer  
  
Diagnosed by Dr. Franklin Weller  
  
Condition: Traumatized, unable to think logically or perform  
simple functions, needs help to eat, sleep deprivation,  
involuntary shaking, extreme depression.  
  
Cause: Experienced first police homicide conducted by self,  
killed 5 armed gunmen in a shootout that occurred  
03/22/1998.  
  
Excerpt from street report:  
Officer Saotome, Ranma was found at the intersection of  
Sunset and Melrose Boulevard, Officer Saotome was responding  
to a shots fired call from an armed robbery and was involved  
in shootout.  
  
Saotome's supervising officer, Sergeant Richard Stensland  
was shot through the side of the abdomen and died of blood  
loss.  
  
Two other officers, Officer P1 Bud White and Sergeant Jack  
Vincennes were also killed in the gunfire.  
  
Officer Saotome was the only officer capable of combat, he  
was shot 3 times in the chest and 6 times in the center mass  
of his backside, however the ballistic vest stopped the  
projectiles from penetrating. Officer Saotome shot the 5  
gunmen on the other side of the intersection perfectly with  
a round in center of the head. The investigation is  
currently under review for questionable matters.  
[End of Excerpt.]  
  
Diagnosis and Treatment: Standard post homicide depression.  
Give a two week paid vacation and anti depressant drugs. Put  
under review for possible manic behavior in the future.  
  
Commentary and Recommendations: The subject is experiencing  
perfectly normal depression after killing a suspect in  
combat. However, subject seems to be more depressed than  
average patient, and seems to have other problems other than  
the ones diagnosed. Advise caution.  
  
[End Report]  
  
---------------  
  
Nabiki had a cold, neutral look on her face, she looked  
calm, but inside she was bubbling with mixed emotions. This  
seemed to be the first of many reports made by a  
professional psychologist on Ranma, it seemed Ranma was  
having post traumatic problems from killing people, and  
having behavioral problems from them. The diagnostic  
descriptions ranged from insomnia to full blown rage  
management, Ranma seemed to have a mess of problems while  
being a cop. What particularly interested her though were  
that in the more recent reports, Ranma had stated that  
killing was part of his duty, he had to uphold his honor by  
doing his job.  
  
Nabiki frowned, Ranma was a bigger workaholic than she  
was, he had the dedication that ranked him as some sort of  
hero.  
  
Almost every report was stamped mandatory as a  
precaution to any officer who commits a homicide during the  
job, but one report stood out, Nabiki flipped to it, it was  
stapled at the very end of the packet, it had a big green  
stamp at the top of the page.  
  
---------------  
  
File No. XXXX-XXX-XXXXX-XX-COUNSEL [VOLUNTEERED]  
[CAUTION! CONFIDENTIAL! ANY UNAUTHORIZED PERSONS VIEWING  
THIS DOCUMENT WILL BE PERSECUTED!]  
  
Los Angeles Police Department - Courtesy Counseling Unit  
Metropolitan Division  
  
Time Stamped: December 20, 1999.  
  
Subject: Saotome, Ranma - Badge No. 18991  
Post: West LA Division  
Rank Status: Patrolman 3 [P3] Officer  
  
Diagnosed by Dr. Mylandah Arkar Walder  
  
Condition: Nostalgic Depression, anxiety and stress.  
  
Cause: Former fiancee of Officer Saotome, anxiety is caused  
by the heartache from the termination of a past  
relationship. Depression is from a reoccurring memory that  
surfaced from Officer Saotome. Officer Saotome was partnered  
with P1 Officer Yanagida, Ichino [Badge No. 19179] who  
reported that Officer Saotome was experiencing depression  
and anxiety when passing by the UCLA campus.  
  
Detailed scripted excerpt from subject interview, Dr.  
Mylandah Arkar Walder took notes of emotion and behavior and  
recorded conversation:  
  
Walder: So officer, tell me what seems to be bothering you.  
  
Saotome:[Shows signs of anxiety, depression is clearly  
visible] Well... I've just... Well... its just that it's  
close to Christmas, and I just remembered some things from  
my past, that's all.  
  
Walder: Did these memories reawaken fears or bad thoughts  
from your head?  
  
Saotome:[Reluctant]Well... its just that I used to have  
someone really special to spend it with... its not that I'm  
lonely, I have lots of friends who invited me over for their  
Christmas but... you know, it didn't feel the same.  
  
Walder: When you and Officer Yanagida passed by the UCLA  
campus, did you show signs of anxiety?  
  
Saotome: Yes... I started having this weird pain in my  
chest, it wasn't really the kind of pain you get from a  
heart attack or someone striking you... just this awful,  
numbing pain in my soul.  
  
Walder: Caused by the anxiety of your memories past. It  
seems you had a relationship with someone that is causing  
you to feel this way. Do you mind telling me who it was?  
  
Saotome:[Looks down, faces twists from anger to  
sadness]......... It-i-it was my former fiancee, her name  
was Akane Tendo.  
  
Walder: I see. Tell me about your relation with her.  
  
Saotome: Nothing to say really, I loved her, I did a lot for  
her, we were supposed to be married together, and I wouldn't  
have been here as a cop.  
  
Walder: How did you meet her?  
  
Saotome: My parents arranged it, it didn't work out at  
first, but I fell in love with her.  
  
Walder: Ok.  
  
[Side notes, subject showing extreme signs of anxiety, is  
having emotional fluctuations.]  
  
Walder: Did you truly love this girl?  
  
Saotome:[Subject shows irritation]What kind of question is  
that? Of course I loved her, I-...... I loved her more than  
life itself...  
  
Walder: I see. So you were pretty attached to her. Tell me,  
are you a virgin?  
  
Saotome:[Startled]What?! That is none of your business!  
  
Walder: I have to psychoanalyze you officer, it is necessary  
for me to know some intimate details of your life, so  
please, answer the question.  
  
Saotome: No! What is the relevance? I'm in here to talk  
about sex?! You call that psychotherapy!?!  
  
Walder: I am only doing my job. Please answer, are you a  
virgin or not?  
  
Saotome:[Is showing anger]Why the fuck should I answer a  
question like that!?! It's none of your goddamn  
motherfucking business! Fuck you!  
  
Walder: Calm down officer, remember it was you who  
volunteered for this, don't worry this will all be  
confidential.  
  
Saotome:[Gives a hostile glare, sneers]Fine then.  
  
Walder: Now tell me, did you lose your virginity to this  
Akane girl or not?  
  
Saotome:...... Yes... yes I did. I gave my virginity to her.  
  
Walder: Ok. When did this happen?  
  
Saotome:[Gives off a hostile glare]When I graduated high  
school, right after our graduation. We were excited, we made  
love in a forest in the mountains.[Breaths a nervous sigh]  
  
Walder: Giving your virginity to someone is a clear sign of  
mental devotion to someone, or in other words love. This is  
related to the pain you felt while working, correct? You had  
rehashed memories of an old love.  
  
Saotome:[Slumps]Yeah. You know, I never, EVER would have  
guessed that would have happened. You know, after that day,  
we made love every chance we got for the rest of that summer  
until I was gone to the U.S. [Chuckles]I tried my hardest to  
sneak into her bed late at night.  
  
Walder: Well that is a good start for now. Let us go more in  
depth with the rest of the figures of your life.  
  
Saotome:[Glares]Fine then.  
  
Walder: Do you have any other love prospects right now?  
  
Saotome:......That too is none of your business.  
  
Walder: Please, Mr. Saotome, in order for me to help you I  
need for you to answer the question.  
  
[Subject is reluctant to answer, is showing visible signs of  
nervous sweating.]  
  
Walder: I have to know officer, this entire report is  
completely confidential, no one will hear or ever see this  
interview report. So please, answer the question.  
  
Saotome:[Growls audibly]......Yeah, I do.  
  
Walder: Who is it?  
  
Saotome:[Mumbles]I'm...withitchinoyanagida.  
  
Walder: What?  
  
Saotome:[Sighs]I said I'm with Officer Ichino Yanagida.  
  
Walder: You...you're dating your partner? Officer Yanagida  
is you're lover?  
  
Saotome:[Gives off a hostile glare]......Well, we were...  
right now...[Silent]  
  
Walder: Well? Could you continue please?  
  
Saotome:......We're actually engaged.  
  
Walder: Engaged with another girl? Even after you say you  
were deeply disturbed with your previous fiancee? Heh, tell  
me how you came to this conclusion?  
  
Saotome:[Growls]I didn't come here for you to fucking mock  
me you fucking shrink.  
  
[Side note, subject seems to be very sensitive on the topic  
of infatuation.]  
  
Walder: I suggest you keep your tongue in check officer,  
after all, I do grade your conduct as well.  
  
Saotome: Hmph...  
  
Walder: Please tell me HOW you came into a relationship with  
her...  
  
Saotome:[Uneasy]She was partnered to me nearly a year ago,  
she was a fresh rookie right out of the academy, assigned to  
me to baby sit her. But I actually found it very welcoming  
despite having an inexperienced officer under my wing.  
  
Walder: Wait, wait, wait. You're a P3 officer, right? [Ranma  
nodded yes]Then how is it possible you got to be partnered  
with a rookie? I believe only sergeants were allowed to  
supervise.  
  
Saotome: My c/o approved it because Ichino was a Japanese  
officer and so was I, her personality was very similar to  
mine when I was a rookie, cocky, adventurous, talented, and  
full of potential. She graduated at the top of her class,  
she ran the 10 mile torture run in an hour and 10 minutes,  
she's the second fastest runner ever in the history of this  
department after me, and probably close to being as athletic  
as me.  
  
Walder: A real battle athlete, huh?  
  
Saotome: Yeah, I guess you could say that. The drill  
instructors up at Elysian thought that it would be smart to  
pair me up with a wildcat, fortunately they were right, she  
became a lot smarter and wiser and more street smart.  
  
Walder: You said before that you found it very welcoming,  
tell me more about that.  
  
Saotome: I had made a lot of friends after moving away from  
Nerima, Japan, but... I was still lonely at times. Itchan is  
from Osaka, Japan, she was actually very timid and shy  
towards me because at the time I was awarded with my second  
medal of valor, I was seen as a hero by many in Little Tokyo  
and by Itchan herself.  
  
Walder: That was helpful but-  
  
[Subject rudely interrupts]  
  
Saotome: I know what you're gonna ask, she was about the  
same age as me, but after we got partnered together we did a  
lot of things together, she eventually became my best  
friend. I guess after about 6 months... I don't know... we  
just sort of fell in love with each other. Like I did with  
Akane. I don't know, I guess I just got over her somehow...  
Not completely, but... it just happened.  
  
[Subject is obviously subconsciously still in love with his  
previous lover.]  
  
Walder: Now, officer, let's go more in depth with your  
relationship with this Akane Tendo.  
  
Saotome:[Frustrated sigh]Jesus fucking Christ lady, how many  
more questions do you have? Damn shrinks.  
  
[Remaining interview script truncated, locate file archived  
in directory XX-XXX-XXX, possible attached to this report.]  
  
Diagnosis and Treatment: Anxiety is caused by the heartbreak  
of a loved one from the past. Subject is emotionally  
unstable but is able to perform regular tasks. Subject was  
recommended some prescription anti-depressants.  
  
Commentary and Recommendations: The subject has just had  
some deja vu over a fiancee from the past, prescribe an  
social anxiety drug and administer some basic conflict  
management if needed. Subject is somewhat emotionally  
unstable, but is fit and able for duty. Recommending contact  
with P2 officer Ichino Yanagida for cross referencing.  
  
[End Report]  
  
----------------------  
  
Nabiki's eyes opened wide. Akane had sex with Ranma  
before she got married with Ryoga!? Nabiki reread the script  
between doctor and patient, indeed her eyes confirmed what  
she had read but her brain refused to compute it. How had  
Akane and Ranma had sex with each other often without her  
knowing? Nabiki glared at Akane, who was reading a couple of  
therapy reports from before.  
  
Ranma must have had some damn good sneaking techniques  
to get away from her. But for now she would let it pass, no  
use in reliving the past.  
  
And if THAT wasn't enough of a surprise, Ranma had a  
fiancee in America after breaking up with Akane? Ranma  
HIMSELF fell in love and got a fiancee with another girl off  
in somewhere else!? This was a real change from the Ranma  
she once knew, the dumb jock who had no backbone when it  
came to dealing with women.  
  
Akane saw Nabiki's face shift in surprise and disbelief,  
it was an extremely rare thing to see the ice queen show any  
emotion other than neutrality.  
  
Nabiki slowly let down the psychology report and  
breathed a slow sigh, blinking a couple of times. Akane  
narrowed her eyes and saw the report, she snatched it from  
Nabiki's hands when she could get the chance.  
  
Nabiki exploded, "Hey!! Give that back Akane!"  
  
Akane shielded herself against Nabiki and furiously  
skimmed through the reports that seemed to shock her sister  
so dramatically.  
  
"Damn it Akane! You don't want to see that!" struggled  
Nabiki.  
  
Akane pushed away her sister with her left arm, she  
easily overpowered Nabiki.  
  
She read as fast as she could, going through all the  
details the dialogue, but for a moment Akane stopped, she  
felt like her heart had just stopped beating and something  
had been caught in her throat.  
  
Tears welled up, tears of shame, tears of defeat, tears  
of regret. She slowly reread the conversation between Ranma  
and the doctor. Strangely Nabiki wasn't doing anything right  
now to stop her. Both Ryoga and Nabiki saw as Akane lifted  
her head up to see the both of them, Nabiki had on her  
neutral ice cold mask and Ryoga's showed deep concern.  
  
She wiped away her tears and gritted her teeth. It  
didn't seem quite humiliating that Ranma told another person  
a deep secret of theirs from long ago, but she instead felt  
shame that Ranma seemed to be traumatized enough to actually  
pour his heart out to someone, ANYONE, and a psychologist at  
that.  
  
Akane shoved the report back into Nabiki's hand, who  
wordlessly took them away and put them back in the folder.  
  
Ryoga was the first to break the silence, "Hey, what was  
tha-"  
  
"You don't need to know Ryo-chan, just leave it alone."  
  
"But-"  
  
"Just forget about it you jerk," Nabiki replied coldly.  
  
Ryoga glared at Nabiki, but backed down because Akane  
had asked him to leave it alone as well.  
  
Akane could feel a harsh and painful pang of guilt in  
the pit of her stomach, deep inside she knew she was still  
in love with Ranma somehow, he would always have a place in  
her heart. Reading some of the psychology reports described  
many things that Ranma just couldn't have done. Running  
suspects over with a squad car? Crushing someone's skull  
with a baton? Ranma was a goddamn killer!  
  
And it seemed like he had tried to let go of his old  
life and moved on by falling in love with someone else. It  
really made her sad, but Ranma wasn't hers to claim and love  
anymore.  
  
Ranma had pretty much tried his hardest to put behind a  
life that he had cherished so much and looked forward to.  
Any other person would have broken down pitifully and go  
insane after having their dreams and futures utterly  
abolished.  
  
But no, Ranma had been stronger than that. He had found  
another fiancee, and he had tried to go on with his life.  
  
But something tingled at the back of Akane's mind. If  
Ranma was engaged to this Ichino Yanagida, why wasn't she  
with Ranma when he had come back from LA? Why wasn't she  
with him?  
  
Ryoga sifted through some of Ranma's personal and  
personnel profile. Fortunately for Ryoga there was a  
detailed description of LAPD procedures attached along with  
it. Ryoga was frowning at the posts Ranma was assigned to,  
and his general history.  
  
Ryoga frowned, "Nabiki, you better come take a look at  
this."  
  
Nabiki had an annoyed expression on her face, she put  
down the report she was reading and went over to Ryoga, she  
would put off the questions for Akane later.  
  
"What is it?" she asked, peering over his shoulder.  
  
He handed the dossier to her, "Look."  
  
---------------------  
  
Officer Profile No. 18991  
  
Name: Ranma Saotome  
  
Gender: Male  
  
Nationality: Japanese  
  
Eyes: Blue  
  
Height: 5ft 11in  
  
Date of Birth: XX-XX-1976  
  
Occupational Status: Sergeant Detective [S2]  
  
Post: Metropolitan Division, Parker Center - Special  
Operations Sector, Investigate Services Unit, Special  
Investigative Squad  
  
Work Description: Special Investigative Section (often  
referred to as 'Squad') [SIS], created in 1965 for handling  
serious robbery-homicide crimes and repeating serious  
offenders. Operated inside Parker Center, under the "King"  
unit Investigative Services, the current commander of  
operations is Captain Gray Davis. The Squad has tactical  
power over all street operations, all SIS detectives are  
also voided from Internal Affairs investigations.*  
*File Note - Check attached message at bottom of transcript  
for detailed info on above occupation.  
  
Commendations: Two time Medal of Valor recipient, Tina  
Kerbrat Award recipient, high marks from every C/O he's ever  
worked with, received Special Weapons and Tactics training  
from academy, received unspecified counter-terrorism  
training from Camp Pendleton.  
  
-+-+-+-+  
  
History at Los Angeles Police Department:  
  
07-29-1997: Joined Los Angeles Police Academy as a cadet.  
  
01-30-1998: Graduated LA Police Academy at the top of the  
class, received marksmanship status and Tina Kerbrat* award,  
assigned to Hollywood Division, ranked as P1 patrolman.  
Probation period begins.  
*Award given at LAPD Academy, awarded to the most  
inspirational cadet of a graduating class.  
  
03-27-1998: Received the Medal of Valor for killing five  
suspects in a 211* call, saved the lives of two officers and  
some school children.  
*A 211 is an armed robbery code.  
  
10-11-1998: Transferred to 77th Street Division.  
  
12-14-1998: Was allowed collaboration for training at Camp  
Pendleton.  
  
01-01-1999: Officer Saotome was shot twenty times in the  
chest and back in an alley at a New Years day bust for  
crowds discharging firearms, was saved by a vest and killed  
the suspects who shot him.  
  
01-19-1999: Received second Medal of Valor for fighting off  
criminals when he was brutally shot mercilessly. Commended  
by Chief Bernard Parks.  
  
01-25-1999: End of probation period, now promoted to P2  
rank.  
  
01-27-1999: Partnered with P1 Officer Ichino Yanagida,  
assigned as a training officer for new graduate.  
  
06-30-1999: Transferred to Valley Traffic Division over  
dispute with Watch Commander. Officer Saotome was not  
charged with a demerit.  
  
09-13-1999: Transferred to West LA Division over lack of  
officers in the precinct.  
  
10-05-1999: Promoted to P3 detective status, pending a  
controversial shooting investigation for possible excessive  
force.  
  
10-14-1999: Shooting involving Officer Saotome found  
legitimate, no charges pressed.  
  
03-02-2000: Passed sergeant's exam, promoted to Sergeant  
Detective  
  
03-07-2000: Transferred to Rampart Robbery-Homicide, cleared  
for adjoined operations with neighboring divisions.  
  
06-09-2000: Hospitalized for mental instability after the  
tragic shooting death of Officer Ichino Yanagida. Pending  
investigation for Sergeant Saotome's ability to function in  
the line of duty, the detective is rumored to be berserk.  
The killers of Officer Ichino Yanagida were shot to death in  
a car during their getaway outside of the city.  
  
06-13-2000: Transferred to Special Investigative Section at  
5K90. All allegations and  
investigations dropped by Captain Gray Davis.  
  
[History thereafter classified]  
  
  
Additional Info:[SIS] The Special Investigate Section of the  
Los Angeles Pol...  
  
  
--------------------  
  
Nabiki continued reading to the bottom, her eyes widened  
and narrowed several time as she read the additional info of  
Ranma's job. "A group that trails repeated hardcore felons  
and executes at will"? What kind of group of cops does the  
job of a death squad? Undergoing several investigations? His  
fiancee got killed? MENTAL instability?!  
  
Ryoga looked concerned, Nabiki wasn't a person who was  
easily miffed. Luckily for him, he was pretty good at  
reading English, so he understand just about everything in  
these documents.  
  
Nabiki frowned yet again. What the hell? History  
thereafter classified? She looked through the packet to see  
if anything was missing, then found none. Heh, then it  
probably meant that NOTHING was written to begin with, she  
guessed, probably to hide something.  
  
Nabiki finally put down the papers, "Ryoga, I know you  
aren't gonna think so, but I think we're WAY over heads to  
be dealing with Ranma. I think he's a certifiable loony."  
  
"What!?! No way, I'm gonna make sure I beat that punk  
down for what he did to us."  
  
Nabiki just scoffed at him, "Whatever, lets take a look  
at these tapes hmmm?"  
  
Ryoga's face darkened as he saw Nabiki walk right past  
him, degradingly ignoring him not giving a second thought to  
whatever opinion he had.  
  
She got one of the tapes and walked out of Akane's room  
and down to the living room. Akane and Ryoga followed.  
  
Nabiki made sure her father wasn't home, he was probably  
sneaking off to Genma's house to drink with him.  
  
The three finally sat together and fired up the VCR. The  
TV screen flickered and a disclaimer came up. The three paid  
close attention as the screen proclaimed that the video was  
unedited and for documentary use only.  
  
-------------------  
  
[Catchy Music Starts, Show opens up COPS! style]  
  
:::: ::::  
::LAPD - Life on the Beat::  
:::: ::::  
  
Episode #53 [Unaired version]  
  
Wilshire Division, March 22nd, 2000. 2:21 AM. Possible shots  
fired call.  
  
[The scene opens up, the cameraman is in the backseat of an  
unmarked Ford Crown Victoria. A number of gadgets could be  
seen inside, a large bulky computer in the center of the  
dashboard and emergency lights on the windshield. The camera  
focuses on a female Ranma-chan who is slightly damp. She is  
wearing a thick letterman style black and tan jacket, and  
has some dark blue jeans on. She is currently in the drivers  
seat driving. It is raining heavily outside, the windshield  
wipers are having trouble keeping up with the thick and  
rapid droplets.]  
  
[The screen captions in white: Detective Sergeant Ranma  
Saotome and Detective Ichino Yanagida]  
  
Ranma-chan:[Talks to cameraman, glances back at the camera a  
couple of times] We're gonna be cruising around the business  
districts of Downtown LA, a lot of stuff goes down around  
here, drug deals, psychos, HOMELESS psychos, all those  
weirdos come out after twilight.  
  
Ichino:[Scoffs]At least it isn't as bad as the daytime.  
  
[The camera focuses on a sharp looking girl in the passenger  
seat. She is very pretty and has a friendly smile on her  
face. She has short, pointy black hair and is wearing a  
white windbreaker with some gray sweat pants. She looks  
about 5' 6" tall judging by the way she looks sitting in her  
seat, she has a very slim and athletic build.]  
  
Ranma-chan:[Looks over to Ichino]The graveyard shift is  
generally quieter, but some bad stuff happens in the night  
too, Itchan.  
  
Itchan:[Munches on some chips]Whatever.  
  
[The radio on the dash beeps and chirps.]  
  
Radio:[Chirps]All units, all units, respond to a possible  
417* at Harvard and Olympic, over.  
*417 - Person with a gun.  
  
Itchan:[Picks up radio receiver]Dispatch, this is unit 7-  
Adam-22, en route to scene.  
  
Dispatch: Proceed with extreme caution, possible shots  
fired.  
  
Itchan: 10-4.[Puts receiver back in place]  
  
[Camera focuses back on Ranma.]  
  
Ranma-chan: Harvard and Olympic is only two blocks from  
here, I'm betting we're gonna be the first ones there.  
  
Itchan: Don't turn on the sirens though, just the lights,  
lets see if we can sneak up on the guy.  
  
Ranma-chan:[Turns on a couple of switches, the blue and red  
strobe lights on the windshield flash forward  
rapidly]Whatever.  
  
[The car accelerates suddenly and Ranma-chan floors the car  
all the way to Harvard, they slow down and slowly approach  
the intersection of Olympic.]  
  
Itchan:[Wipes the condensed fog on her window, peers  
outside]You sure this is the right place? I don't see  
anything.  
  
Ranma-chan:[Points to street sign]That thing says Harvard  
and Olympic, don't it?  
  
[The car continues to drive and turns around the corner, all  
three including the cameraman gasp in awe at the infernal  
destruction in front of them, all the businesses are lit on  
fire and there seems to be something far off in the haze  
shooting off a stream of flames.]  
  
Itchan:[Looks around]Holy shit, this must be the place, huh?  
  
Ranma-chan:[Puffs]Damn right.[Picks up radio  
receiver]Dispatch, come in dispatch, this is unit 7-Adam-22.  
  
Dispatch:[Crackles]Go ahead.  
  
Ranma-chan:[Clicks receiver]We have a fire and a possible  
armed 5150* at the corner of Harvard and Olympic, requesting  
fire department and backup, officers need immediate  
assistance, over.  
*5150 - Crazy man on the loose!  
  
Dispatch: 10-4, help is on the way.  
  
[The car drives a little closer, when they get through some  
of the fog of the rain they see a crazed person dressed up  
in a metal suit with a huge tank strapped to the back. The  
man is facing away from Ranma-chan's car and is shooting  
wildly at a bunch of buildings with a small assault rifle.  
He has another long metal nozzle in his left hand shooting  
out flame. Ranma-chan jerks the car to a stop.]  
  
Itchan:[Stares in disbelief]Shit...who the hell is this  
joker?  
  
Ranma-chan:[Pulls out Beretta, chamber checks it]I don't  
know, a spokesmen for the NRA*?  
*The National Rifle Association, a group of gun nuts  
basically.  
  
Itchan:[Pulls out her own Beretta and chamber checks it]He's  
a regular asshole, that's for sure.[Looks over to Ranma-  
chan]So, what're we gonna do?  
  
Ranma-chan:[Looks hard at the nut, smirks]Let's run him  
over.  
  
Both Cameraman and Itchan: WHAT?!  
  
Cameraman: Officer Saotome, I really don't think that's  
safe.  
  
Itchan:[Nervous]What are you going to do if he turns around  
and shoots us with that assault rifle?  
  
Ranma-chan:[Frowns]Come on, don't be a don't-be Itchan, be a  
do-be. Think positive!  
  
Itchan: What the fuck are you trying to pull-[Cut off by  
Ranma-chan]  
  
Ranma-chan:[Bold]Come on, WILL him with me, "don't turn  
around", we're better than him!  
  
Itchan:[Scoffs]Wha...WILL him??  
  
Ranma-chan: Yeah! We're the good guys, and he's the bad guy,  
we'll win for sure!  
  
Itchan:[Disbelief]I just hope he doesn't shoot us with that  
assault rifle!  
  
[The car slowly accelerates forward towards the armored  
man.]  
  
Ranma-chan:[Shakes Itchan's shoulder enthusiastically]Come  
on, do it with me! Don't turn around![Shakes fist  
victoriously towards]Don't turn around!  
  
Itchan:[Joins Ranma-chan]Yeah, don't turn around!  
  
[The camera view is visibly shaking, the cameraman whimpers  
in the background in fear.]  
  
Ranma-chan: Yeah! We're gonna get this guy!  
  
[Ranma floors the accelerator and the car surges forward,  
the loud rain drowns out all the noise made by the cruiser.  
However, as the car heaves forward the armored guy slowly  
turns around to face them with his flamethrower puffing.]  
  
Ranma-chan:[Smiles nervously]Heh, he's turning.  
  
Itchan: SHIT!  
  
[Ranma-chan slams the brakes and swerves the car completely  
to the left, the camera shakes wildly.]  
  
Itchan:[Yells]Let's get the hell outta here!  
  
[A barrage of machine gun fire can be heard, the camera view  
shakes as the cameraman rushes to jump outside and take  
refuge behind the car. Ranma-chan and Ichino can be seen  
clumsily tumbling out of the driver's side and falling to  
the asphalt. The two cops scurry to hide, Ranma-chan ducks  
near the front of the car under the hood and Ichino hides  
under the trunk. The camera focuses on bullets piercing  
right through the door, striking the pavement and splashing  
the puddles of rainwater.]  
  
Camerman:[Stutters]Holy shit!  
  
[The cameraman straddles over to Ranma chan and cowers, the  
camera view shakes uncontrollable and the sounds of machine  
gun fire and empty shell casings falling on the floor can be  
heard.]  
  
Itchan:[Trying to take cover]Damn!  
  
[Ranma-chan cringes, behind the car, trying to avoid the  
gunfire. However, Ranma-chan hears the firing stopping and  
the clacking of a spent magazine falling to the floor.  
Ranma-chan immediately stands up, and the camera view  
follows with her, Ranma-chan fires off four rounds from her  
pistol into the armored guy's chest. The camera switches  
back to Ichino who has also stood up and is furiously  
emptying her gun on the suspect, however all the rounds  
merely flicker and cause sparks to fly. Ichino immediately  
drops back down.]  
  
Ranma-chan:[Drops down, crouches]Shit![To Itchan]They just  
bounce right off him!  
  
Itchan:[Tries to peek over the trunk, hides as she sees the  
flamethrower flames her way]I know, we're in trouble!  
  
[A loud siren can be heard, the camera peeks over the hood  
and a police cruiser can be seen, it blasts through the  
street from a corner and rushes towards the armored man with  
lights flashing and sirens blaring.]  
  
Ranma-chan:[Looks over the hood]Here comes some help!  
  
[The police car blares by and tries to swerve around the tin  
man, but the armored guy shoots flames at the car making the  
back catch on fire.]  
  
Itchan:[Looks over the trunk]Holy shit...  
  
[The cameraman shivers as the armored man shoots flames  
wildly everywhere, the police cruiser that caught on fire  
swerves to a violent stop. Two uniformed men in jackets can  
be seen struggling out the passengers side. The armored man  
shoots up the cruiser, but the officers hiding behind don't  
get hit.]  
  
Ranma-chan:[Eyes wide]Shit![To Ichino]We gotta help them!  
  
[Ranma-chan gets up and shoots off the remaining 12 rounds  
in her gun, the armored man bounces back a bit from the hard  
hitting hollow points of Ranma's gun.]  
  
Itchan:[Shoots off a few rounds, ducks again]We're not doing  
much except stalling him!  
  
Ranma-chan:[Pulls out a loaded magazine from her left hip  
and snaps it in the gun, clicks slide back in  
place]Argh![Snaps finger]I got an idea. We're gonna have to  
make a wild diversion.  
  
Itchan:[Fires off about three more rounds, looks over to  
Ranma-chan]How the fuck do we do that?!  
  
[The armored man retaliates with another round of bullets  
hailing on their now battered Ford, the tires can be heard  
popping and hissing. Ranma, Ichino, and the cameraman, cower  
for whatever cover they can muster.]  
  
Ranma-chan: Here's the plan! You take off your clothes, run  
out there in your underwear, and when flame-o over there  
turns around I'll shoot the valve of that napalm tank when  
he's distracted!  
  
Itchan:[Yells]Hell no! You do it![In Japanese, with a thick  
Kansai accent]Dammit Ranma, you're not even a real girl! I  
am!  
  
Ranma-chan:[In Japanese]Yeah, but I'm not gonna advertise  
that I'm a girl slash guy either!  
  
Itchan:[Growls, starts taking off shirt, reverts back to  
English]Damn you! Why do I even have to strip my clothes?!  
  
Ranma-chan: It'll distract him more! I know it'll distract  
me!  
  
[Ichino continues to strip off her clothes all he way to her  
bra and panties. The cameraman focuses closer on Ichino's  
femininity, who catches him staring at her.]  
  
Itchan:[Slaps camera away, grabs cameraman by his  
shirt]Don't you fuckin' get this on camera![Shoves away]  
  
Ranma-chan:[In Japanese]Don't worry, you're chest isn't big  
enough for anyone but me to notice!  
  
Itchan:[Shouts]Shut up!!  
  
[By now there is a mess of police cars and fire trucks  
racing to the scene, there is a police helicopter shining a  
big floodlight on the armored man, the camera focuses on a  
bunch of red and blue lights that are coming towards them,  
meanwhile the two patrolmen in the flaming police car are  
busily shooting the armored man, but the bullets can be seen  
bouncing in sparks with no success. The armored man merely  
points his assault rifle and shoots up the car the two men  
are using for cover, sending them to the floor, cowering.]  
  
Ranma-chan:[Sees armored man coming towards them with his  
flamethrower]He's coming back!  
  
Itchan:[In only her bra and panties]Now what do I do!?!  
  
Ranma-chan:[Shoots off a few more rounds to distract]Now run  
out there! And flap your arms like a chicken!  
  
Itchan:[Prepares to get up]What? What the hell for?!  
  
Ranma-chan:[Shoves her away]Just trust me! Go! It'll  
distract him more!  
  
Itchan:[Shivers in the cold]You're gonna shoot that itty  
bitty little valve before he roasts me?!  
  
Ranma-chan:[Pushes her away]Trust me! Now go, go, go!  
  
[Itchan runs out almost naked and runs in a semicircle to  
turn away the armored man. The guy only just watches and  
stares, the camera man moves to where Ichino was by the  
trunk and focuses on her running and flapping. Meanwhile,  
the two officers from the flaming patrol car run for cover  
behind a building.]  
  
Itchan:[Squawks like a chicken, flaps arms]Bawk, bawk,  
bawk![Cries]I don't wanna die in my underwear Ranma!  
  
[Ranma-chan gets up and smirks, he sees the tin man turning  
around dumbly, he aims his Beretta carefully on top of the  
hood of the car.]  
  
Itchan:[Sees the armored guy shooting flames at her]Ahh!!  
Saotome! What the hell are you waiting for? Shoot the  
bastard! Shoot him![Dives toward the curb, barely dodges the  
flame.]  
  
[Ranma shoots rapidly at a little valve on the bottom of the  
tin man's fuel tank, the valve blows off and the sparks  
light up the spewing gas. The guy is rocketed straight in  
the air.]  
  
Ranma-chan:[Smirks]Heh.  
  
Itchan:[Runs toward Ranma-chan]What the hell are you doing?!  
RUN!!  
  
Ranma-chan:[Frowns]Huh?[Looks up]  
  
[The armored man is screaming loudly even over his steel  
helmet, he's in flames and is dropping straight down to  
Ranma-chan's police car.]  
  
Ranma-chan: Holy shit![Grabs cameraman]Let's get the hell  
outta here!  
  
[The camera shakes violently as the three run away  
frantically towards the awaiting fire trucks and flashing  
police cars, the camera is swung back so that the car can  
still be seen while the cameraman is running away. The  
armored man pummels down on the roof of the car like a  
meteor, crushing the entire top, the remaining fuel in the  
man's tank explodes, causing another explosion from the fuel  
in the car's tank. A huge fireball is made, and nearly hits  
the three runners as they dive to the ground.]  
  
Ranma-chan:[Gets up from the asphalt, looks at the burning  
car]Whoa ho![Starts laughing]Ha HA!  
  
Itchan:[Gets up, joins Ranma-chan laughing]Yeah![To Ranma-  
chan]You think that bird shit helped man! You think that  
chicken shit helped![Laughs, flaps arms a couple times.]  
  
Ranma-chan:[Laughs harder, stares at Ichino]No, naw![Puts a  
hand on Ichino's shoulder]I just wanted to see if you'd do  
it!  
  
Itchan:[Smile transform into a weak smile and to a  
frown]Wha-what?  
  
[The camera focus is on the two from a floor view looking up  
to Ranma-chan and Ichino, the cameraman is still paralyzed  
from fear on the ground.]  
  
Ranma-chan: I just wanted to see if you'd do it![Points with  
his gun]Cute panties.  
  
Itchan:[Punches Ranma-chan hard across the face, fumes]Damn  
you! The entire fucking department has seen me in my  
underwear!  
  
Ranma-chan:[Wobbles for a bit, still laughing]Here.[Hands  
her letterman jacket to Ichino]Wear this.  
  
Itchan:[Snatches jacket, hastily puts it on]You  
asshole.[Notices Ranma-chan still laughing]What's so funny?  
  
Ranma-chan:[Puts her arm around her]Come on, at least you're  
mainly responsible for getting the bad guy. Come on, I'll  
buy you a donut.  
  
[Officers can be seen running towards them from far away,  
they kept away in fear of the explosions.]  
  
Itchan:[Brushes off arm]Hey, hey, hey, keep your hands to  
yourself, what are people gonna think? Two wet girls with  
their arms around each other?  
  
Ranma-chan:[Smirks]Come on, surely you're not ashamed of  
your body.  
  
Itchan:[Shakes her head with a frown at first, then starts  
laughing]Just shut up.  
  
Ranma-chan:[Puts his hands up]Hey, whatever.[Notices  
cameraman on the ground, goes closer so her face is close up  
to the camera, she slaps the cameraman's face a couple of  
times]Was that too much for you?  
  
[Scene fades to black, with the LAPD: LIFE ON THE BEAT logo  
popping up with police light flashing in the background.]  
  
[End Episode 53, section 1]  
  
  
-------------------  
  
The three sat there in front of the television, in  
silence. Nabiki, Ryoga, and Akane were sweating profusely,  
they had trails of sweat down their faces.  
  
Nabiki slowly lifted the remote and stopped the tape  
player. "......"  
  
Akane tapped Nabiki's shoulder, "Oneechan, was that  
really Ranma we just saw?"  
  
Ryoga only sneered, but kept absolutely silent.  
  
"Yeah, that was definitely Ranma," replied Nabiki. "I  
think that girl Ichino was your ex-fiancee's girlfriend."  
  
Akane breathed a heavy and nervous sigh, "God, Ranma has  
turned into Rambo," her face cringed for a moment. "Then  
that was Ranma's fiancee in America huh? She was very  
pretty." Yeah, Akane told herself, it reminded her of  
herself actually.  
  
"That crazy bastard," growled Ryoga, he looked over to  
Nabiki, "What's on the other tape Nabiki?"  
  
Nabiki slid a condescending look over her shoulder to  
Ryoga as she took out the tape from the VCR and put the  
other one in.  
  
"Jeez, did you hear those thugs? They were swearing like  
damn delinquents! Even I never cussed that much! Now can you  
see how bad he's changed!?" yelled Ryoga.  
  
Akane tried to pull him down next to her, "Calm down  
Ryo-chan, let's watch this video for now."  
  
"Hmph," derided Ryoga. He sat back down on the mat and  
crossed his arms.  
  
"Hmm, this tape says it's a news clip," Nabiki said  
while pressing play on the VCR.  
  
The three hunched up closer to the television screen as  
some logos popped up.  
  
----------------  
  
KNBC Channel 4: Southern California's Number One News  
Station  
  
NEWS CLIP PROVIDED COURTESY OF ADELPHIA COMMUNICATIONS  
  
DATED: JUNE 9, 2000.  
  
[Screen opens up to large KNBC logo with NBC rainbow in the  
background. A grim looking news anchor is sitting down in  
front of a big desk with some papers in his hand.]  
  
NewsAnchor: Hello, this is Paul Moyer, and this is the 6  
o'clock news on NBC 4. We have more continued breaking news  
coverage on the drug bust gone bad with the LAPD at a  
Rampart used car dealer. At around 2:00 PM a shootout  
occurred between four drug dealers and two detectives when  
the dealers panicked while being caught. The shootout  
dragged on for about twenty minutes until it ended, nearly  
10 minutes of amazing footage was caught by our sky cams,  
LAPD SWAT was unable to respond in time because they were  
deployed in a hostage situation that occurred earlier today  
in Venice Beach. Here is some footage from the shootout.  
  
[The screen switches to an overhead view of a car lot, two  
cops are shooting it out with three others who are across  
from them, separated by some cars. Five other officers are  
hiding behind a big SUV outside the lot trying to shoot the  
suspects. One suspect is down in the middle of the lot next  
to a table, a puddle of blood forming around him.]  
  
Moyer:[Talks in the background of the video clip] Two  
suspects were shot and killed, however, two of them have  
escaped and are being searched rigorously around the Rampart  
area. One officer, Detective Ichino Yanagida, was shot  
several times and was treated in a local general hospital in  
critical condition.[Switches back to newsroom] There is no  
word yet currently about how she is doing, but some rumors  
indicate that the outcome is looking grim.  
  
[A sudden scurry and some shouting orders can be heard in  
the background, some lady runs up with some papers and gives  
it to anchorman Paul Moyer, he shakes his head and frowns in  
confusion, as soon as he takes a look at the paper his eyes  
widen]  
  
Moyer:[Voice shakes a bit]Oh my god...ladies and  
gentleman...I've just received tragic news that Officer  
Ichino Yanagida has just died a few minutes ago at St.  
Vincent's medical hospital, due to complications in her  
internal organs and unsuccessful surgery. On a more tragic  
note, her partner in the drug bust, Sergeant Ranma Saotome,  
was her fiancee. Doctors found that Ichino Yanagida had died  
when Sgt. Ranma was heard crying and screaming loudly next  
to Officer Yanagida's bed in the Intensive Care Unit of the  
hospital.  
  
[The lady comes back again and hands Moyer some more papers  
  
Moyer: Currently, the officers of the LAPD are in an  
outrage, Station Captains everywhere in every division have  
just issued a state of Tactical Alert, I've learned that  
police officers who are off duty at home are rushing to  
their precincts to join the huge manhunt in progress for the  
fugitive cop killers.[Reads more]Los Angeles Sheriff's  
Department and the California Highway Patrol officers have  
also joined in, this marks one of the biggest hunts ever in  
the history of the LAPD for a cop killer since the Radical  
Federation Army of the 1970's. A $50,000 reward is being  
issued by Los Angeles Police Chief Bernard Parks, anyone who  
can help out is being encouraged.[Signals someone]We have  
some live video of the frenzy the police are getting  
involved in right now.  
  
[The screen switches to some scratchy live footage of some  
unidentified part of Los Angeles, however there are black  
and white police cars everywhere with lights flashing and  
sirens blaring, they are racing across streets with their  
searchlights in daylight, trying to find cop killers. The  
camera switches back to Paul Moyer in the newsroom.]  
  
Moyer: NBC 4 will bring you more breaking news updates on  
this tragic death of Officer Ichino Yanagida, please stay  
tuned.  
  
[Screen blacks out, there aren't any more news clips.]  
  
------------------  
  
"......"  
  
"......"  
  
"......"  
  
The three of them just sat right in front of the TV in  
silence, each with their own facial expressions and  
emotions.  
  
Nabiki finally reached out and turned off the TV. Her  
face was an unreadable neutral mask. "I guess there was a  
lot more to Ranma then he let on."  
  
Akane's eyes were filled with tears, she sighed, "Poor  
Ranma. It must've been quite a loss for him."  
  
"I guess so," Ryoga said, even he seemed to be a little  
depressed after watching that video.  
  
"I still don't get it though Akane," Nabiki said. "How  
does a guy who is as spineless as him when it comes to girls  
actually find ANOTHER fiancee, after he breaks up with you?"  
  
Akane said nothing to that, but Ryoga did, "I bet he  
must've been lonely someway or another. Loneliness can do  
that to anyone, Nabiki. I feel more sorry for the girl than  
him though."  
  
Akane glared at her husband a bit for his insensitive  
comment.  
  
Nabiki huffed, "Whatever. Now at least we know what  
happened to him."  
  
"And now I can plan my revenge against him," replied  
Ryoga.  
  
Nabiki turned and glared at her brother-in-law, "Forget  
about it Ryoga, it's not worth it."  
  
Ryoga growled, "I don't care. I'll get him back if it's  
the last thing I'll do."  
  
"You won't be able to take him on, look at how easily he  
took you out last time," Nabiki said coldly.  
  
"I DON'T CARE!! My pride and honor is at stake here!  
I'll get that bastard for all the times he made me  
miserable!" yelled Ryoga  
  
Nabiki whacked Ryoga hard on the side of his head, and  
gave him a menacing glare, "Ranma is UNTOUCHABLE Ryoga!! Get  
it through your thick head! You read and saw all of this too  
didn't you!? He's practically a trained assassin! Look at  
him! He's gone through more depressing shit than you ever  
have! It's no wonder he turned out so damn cold!"  
  
Ryoga was taken aback by Nabiki's slap, but he shot  
right back, "And I'll make him pay for it damn it! I'll do  
whatever it takes!"  
  
"Come on oneechan, Ryo-chan, let's calm down here..."  
Akane tried to tranquilize the scene.  
  
No, no, no. Ryoga wasn't gonna drag her into one of his  
stupid little vendettas. Nabiki Tendo was smarter than  
getting into something she just couldn't handle right now  
and would threaten some of her own business prospects. She  
decided a little threatening would be in order.  
  
"You gonna test me Ryoga?" asked Nabiki in Korean. It  
was a useful business language to learn, especially since it  
was from a neighboring country.  
  
Ryoga grimaced himself, unfortunately, he knew Korean  
too, he had been lost there once for three months, maybe  
more.  
  
"Why the hell are you speaking Korean, Nabiki?"  
  
Nabiki gave an evil smirk, "The fact of the matter is, I  
still know all of your dirty little secrets." Nabiki saw  
Ryoga's eyes widen. "Did you forget that already?"  
  
His eyes tightened. "You wouldn't."  
  
Her evil smile grew wider. "First I'll tell Akane how  
you used to have some kind of sick obsession about her, how  
you used to spend all your time trying to find her."  
  
"Stop it!"  
  
"Hmph. I'm not finished," she poked Ryoga's chest with  
her index finger. "I'll tell her the truth about what REALLY  
happened with Akari, and whatever happened to little ol' P-  
Chan." Nabiki scoffed at him, "Pride and honor my ass."  
  
Akane just looked back and forth between her husband and  
sister, they seemed to be talking in a language that sounded  
familiar, yet she couldn't understand a word of it.  
  
Ryoga simmered, Nabiki only puffed a breath at him in  
triumph. Ryoga looked furious, but he backed down.  
  
"That's a good boy," Nabiki said.  
  
Seeing how things were probably gonna get out of hand,  
Akane decided to interject between her sister and husband.  
  
"Alright guys, lets just forget about it and focus on  
Ranma," Akane said.  
  
Ryoga softened the look on his face, messing with Nabiki  
was too dangerous. "Let's forget about Ranma for now Akane-  
chan, we'll think about him later," he reverted back to  
Korean for a moment, "I'll settle this with you later  
Nabiki."  
  
Nabiki did the same, "I know YOU will, right Ryoga?"  
  
His only response was to give her a glare when Akane  
wasn't looking.  
  
  
* * *  
  
  
April 18th, 2001.  
Apartment #420, Okayama Luxury Condos - Okayama, Japan.  
7:00 AM.  
  
A beautiful morning in the land of the rising sun, birds  
chirping, the cool morning breeze, and of course, the  
traffic and honking of people trying to go somewhere, even  
if it is a Sunday.  
  
Ranma got up from his futon with a yawn and a smile on  
his face. He sprung out of his bed and stretched his back  
for a moment. He had a window right next to his futon, it  
let the sun shine through in the morning and the calm breeze  
whiz by at night.  
  
"Damn, I miss sparring with someone in the morning to  
get my blood pumping."  
  
Ranma walked over to his closet and put on a white tank  
top and his trademark string drawn pants. He also pulled out  
a huge hiking bag. He opened it up and inspected the  
contents.  
  
"Alright, let's see," he ruffled through, the entire bag  
was filled with heavy weights. "Uh huh. 350 kilograms, that  
should do it."  
  
Ranma hefted the bag onto his shoulder with a grunt and  
locked the straps around him for extra support. The bag was  
made out of tough nylon and lined with polymer, so it took  
the heavy load without tearing apart. He groaned a bit at  
the heavy weight, but he just shrugged and walked to the  
genkan and put on his running shoes.  
  
Ranma looked at the door for a moment and then looked at  
his window. He grinned, surely no one would mind if he  
jumped out the window instead of going out the door?  
  
Without a second thought Ranma awkwardly dove out his  
open window and flipped in the air to land on his feet four  
stories below. The cement sidewalk made a small crack when  
Ranma landed, after all, he was hefting over 755 pounds  
along with himself.  
  
He looked up the street which led to a steep mountain  
path after about a hundred meters, he could run a good seven  
miles up and down and be back with enough time to practice  
some katas.  
  
He slowly started jogging to gain some momentum with the  
extreme load he was carrying, when he got to the dirt path  
he sped up quickly, running straight up the mountain. Other  
people might've thought he was sprinting full speed, but he  
was actually running at a pace that he could endure for  
hours on.  
  
Ranma just ran and ran, one thing he learned while  
training with the 707 was to exercise rigorously while  
carrying something heavy. This explained why Ryoga always  
used to be stronger than Ranma when it came to brute  
strength. Ranma usually trained his body with agility and  
practiced katas for skill, but it didn't hurt to do this.  
While running with heavy stuff wouldn't make him much  
faster, he did become stronger and gained endurance.  
  
After about 50 minutes and seven miles later, Ranma came  
back to his apartment, drenched in sweat. He went on the  
floor and did a quick set of 200 pushups, a hundred each  
with only his index finger on each hand. He took off his  
backpack and put it back into his closet, he went to the  
living room and moved some of the sofas and other furniture  
to make some room.  
  
He practiced a couple of katas, most of them stuff that  
he learned from long ago, and some that he just incorporated  
as time went by. By the time he was done, it was already  
8:40.  
  
"Damn, Ucchan opens up her shop in twenty minutes, I  
better hurry."  
  
Ranma took a quick shower and put on his Chinese  
clothes, he latched his badge and guns onto him and ran out  
the door to the parking lot. He started up the Chevy and  
blasted out of there to race to Ucchan's Okonomiyaki.  
  
-------------  
  
April 18th, 2001.  
Ucchan's Okonomiyaki Restaurant - Okayama, Japan. 9:02 AM.  
  
"Welcome everyone to the grand opening of Ucchan's  
Okonomiyaki of Okayama!"  
  
A small group of people who were waiting anxiously  
walked into the restaurant. In a matter of minutes the 3  
chefs who manned the large wraparound square grill were  
already taking up orders from hungry patrons, the restaurant  
quickly filled with the delicious scent of yakisoba and hot  
okonomiyaki.  
  
Ukyo smiled and greeted each customer at the door, even  
though it was only morning a slow steady stream of customers  
were going through the door to have a taste of the newest  
restaurant in their city.  
  
"Irrashai, irrashai mina-san!" Ukyo chirped happily.  
  
A big black truck came racing through the street towards  
Ukyo, it stopped at the curb and the driver executed a  
perfect parallel park.  
  
Ukyo grinned, only one person in Japan who could  
possibly drive that car. "Hey Ranchan!"  
  
Ranma popped the door open and jumped over to Ukyo. She  
grabbed him in a bear hug and he returned it, they both let  
go after a couple of seconds. "How ya' doin' Ucchan?"  
  
"I'm great! I'm glad you made it here!"  
  
"Heh, I wouldn't miss the grand opening of your  
restaurant for anything in the world."  
  
"Come in, I'll give you some Okonomiyaki."  
  
The two of them walked inside, Ranma sat in front of one  
of the grill seats while Ukyo went behind the counter and  
put on her cooking apron.  
  
"Hey Ucchan, I have a friend of mine coming here too,  
should be here any moment," Ranma said.  
  
Ukyo lifted her eyebrows, "Oh really? Do you already  
have a girlfriend?"  
  
Ranma blushed a bit, "Sorta, she's very nice and  
friendly, and a cop to boot," he chuckled.  
  
"Neat! I'm glad you found someone Ranchan," Ukyo said  
happily.  
  
Ranma smiled, he was glad that Ukyo had finally given up  
on him long ago, she had been ashamed years ago for almost  
killing him and Akane at their failed wedding after Jusendo,  
and after that their relationship turned out for the best.  
Ukyo now knew that her Ranchan loved her, not intimately,  
but it was still love either way.  
  
"Yeah, she's quite a person, real unusual."  
  
"Oh really? As unusual as we are Ranchan?"  
  
Ranma laughed, "Yeah, maybe more."  
  
----------------  
  
"Hey Mihoshi, did you get that report I told you to  
get?"  
  
Mihoshi opened up her bag and pulled out a yellow  
folder. "Yeah Kiyone, I have it right here."  
  
Kiyone kept one hand on the steering wheel and took the  
folder, "I need to hand this to Ranma, he's heading a  
narcotics job in our sector."  
  
"I wonder what it is?" asked Mihoshi.  
  
"It's supposed to be the facts from the interrogation  
our guys did with a suspect Ranma arrested, we'll find out  
more later." Kiyone pointed out to the sign of Ucchan's  
Okonomiyaki, "Hey, we're here."  
  
Kiyone parked their Toyota behind Ranma's Chevy, the two  
of them got out and walked into the restaurant. Mihoshi  
spotted Ranma immediately sitting close to the grill, both  
of them walked over silently to surprise them.  
  
"Yeah, she's quite a person, real unusual."  
  
"Oh really? As unusual as we are Ranchan?"  
  
"Yeah, maybe more."  
  
Ukyo chuckled, "Is that so?"  
  
Kiyone grinned, "Oh, you wouldn't be happening to be  
talking about me, are you Captain?"  
  
Ranma froze for a second, a big drop of sweat forming at  
the back of his head. He had to learn to keep his mouth shut  
one of these days. "Heh, I wouldn't dream of saying anything  
bad about you Kiyone," he said, slowly turning around.  
  
"Hi Ranma!" Mihoshi chirped brightly.  
  
"How you been Mihoshi?" Ranma smiled.  
  
"Fine! Thanks!"  
  
Ukyo poured some circles of batter onto the grill, "How  
are you guys doing? I'm Ukyo Kuonji, Ranma's best friend,"  
she put down one of her spatulas and stuck her hand out.  
  
Kiyone shook Ukyo's hand, "Hi, I'm Kiyone Makibi and  
this here's my partner Mihoshi Kuramitsu, we've heard so  
much about you from Ranma."  
  
Ukyo gave them a friendly smile and let go of Kiyone's  
hand, "Did he really? Here take a seat, I'll make you guys  
some of my deluxe okonomiyaki, the best in all of Japan."  
  
"No, you mean the best in the world!" Ranma mumbled with  
a piece of okonomiyaki in his mouth.  
  
"Thanks Ranchan."  
  
Mihoshi's eyes widened and her mouth started to water at  
the tasty okonomiyaki, one of her favorite foods from earth.  
"Oooh, ooh, can I have one now please? Can I?" she asked  
anxiously.  
  
With a flick of her wrist Ukyo flipped the spatulas onto  
two plates and landed them on Mihoshi and Kiyone's places.  
Mihoshi grabbed her chopsticks and dug in, her eyes  
sparkling with joy. Kiyone didn't eat as ravenously, but she  
enthusiastically ate the tasty okonomiyaki.  
  
"Oishii, this is the best okonomiyaki I've ever tasted!"  
exclaimed Kiyone.  
  
Mihoshi mumbled the same because her mouth was stuffed  
with food.  
  
"I told you, didn't I?" Ukyo said. She made a couple  
more, "Here, you can have all you want, it's on the house."  
  
"I thought you wanted some help when we got here  
Ucchan?" Ranma asked.  
  
Ukyo looked up, "Oh yeah, but it seemed the constructors  
actually finished furnishing the restaurant on time, and I  
was able to do the rest of the work myself. It was no  
problem," Ranma nodded in response. "Thanks for coming  
though Ranchan."  
  
"Heh, I wanted some okonomiyaki too anyway. You won't  
believe how much I missed your cooking when I was back in  
America!"  
  
  
  
The four of them chatted with each other for awhile,  
talking about each other and their past. Ukyo, Kiyone, and  
Mihoshi got along quite well with each other, they became  
quick friends.  
  
After about 3 hours of laid back relaxation, Kiyone  
finally remember that she had to give Ranma his folder.  
  
"Hey, Ranma, the report from your perp came in this  
morning, I brought it in for you," Kiyone handed Ranma the  
yellow folder.  
  
Ranma took the folder and read the contents of the  
reports inside, "I guess they finally beat some info out of  
him?"  
  
"Yeah, his name is Misano Hashimoto, it seems that he  
was just a drug courier, he has a chain of command to  
follow."  
  
"I'm guessing this is all critical information to the  
bad guys?"  
  
"Probably. By the way, he was released on bail last  
night, I guess someone paid the steep bill for his release."  
  
Ranma frowned, "I wish governments would just abolish  
bails and keep suspects and criminals in jail."  
  
Ranma read the reports carefully, meanwhile Mihoshi and  
Ukyo were talking about different ways to make good food.  
  
"Hmm, at least he gave us some info on who his own  
supplier is, even though I'm betting there is most likely a  
bigger source."  
  
"How big a source do you think?" asked Kiyone.  
  
"Who knows? I found about 10 million yen's worth of  
heroin and crack, and it looks like there's a clear sign of  
an organized gang or something." Ranma got up from his seat  
and took the folder with him. "I guess I'll get going,  
thanks for letting us come over Ucchan."  
  
Ucchan paused from conversing with Mihoshi for a moment  
and turned to Ranma, "Leaving already Ranchan?"  
  
Ranma chuckled, "If you haven't noticed the time, it's  
already noon."  
  
Ukyo looked surprised, she looked at her watch, "Really?  
We must've been rambling all this time."  
  
"I think we ought to go back to the precinct too, come  
on Mihoshi."  
  
Mihoshi took a sip of her coke and got up, "All right  
Kiyone," she turned to Ukyo, "Thanks for the great food  
Ucchan!"  
  
Ukyo smiled, "Anytime Mihoshi-chan, I'll give you guys  
the police officer's discount every time you come!"  
  
Ranma started walking out the door, Mihoshi and Kiyone  
followed, "I'll see you later Ucchan, bye!"  
  
"Later!"  
  
The three cops walked out to the street, being the first  
day of the restaurant's opening a large line was forming  
outside the restaurant, people were waiting to get in. News  
of the place had spread quickly.  
  
"I guess we'll be going then, come on Mihoshi," Kiyone  
threw the car keys to her, "You drive."  
  
"Okay!"  
  
Ranma fidgeted for a second, he desperately tried to  
think of something to say, but his mind just didn't seem to  
work. "Hey Kiyone--"  
  
Kiyone immediately responded anxiously, she stepped  
closer to Ranma, "Yes?"  
  
This is it he thought, you've done it before, just take  
it like a man and do it again, "You wouldn't want to have  
dinner with me tomorrow maybe, do you?"  
  
Kiyone tried hard to hide her smile, "Sure, I'd love  
to."  
  
"Then I'll meet you, let's say, here, tomorrow at seven,  
how about that?" Ranma's heart leaped for joy, it was a  
feeling he hadn't felt in years.  
  
"Sure. See you then."  
  
The blond headed ditz Mihoshi decided to pop in right  
next to Kiyone, "Oho, are you guys talking about another  
date?" she giggled.  
  
"So what if I am, huh?" Kiyone retorted playfully.  
  
"Whatever. I gotta go back to Tokyo and pick up some  
stuff from JNSA headquarters. See you later." Ranma said, as  
he walked off and waved to the two.  
  
"Bye!" the both said simultaneously.  
  
They both drove off in their own opposite directions,  
two of them thinking of happy thoughts of what would happen  
tomorrow.  
  
Pity what would happen though.  
  
  
* * *  
  
  
April 19th, 2001.  
In some anonymous back alley - Okayama, Japan. 1:29 AM.  
  
"Misano, Misano, I am SO disappointed in you. Why did  
you have to go and tell them the lieutenant's name?"  
  
Misano shivered in the cold, he was half naked with  
bruises all over his body, "They beat the fucking shit outta  
me! I couldn't hold on forever!"  
  
"Tsk, tsk, that's no excuse," the man in the dark  
pummeled him in the stomach, "You know that. Now it's  
possible you might've exposed some of our methods of  
operation."  
  
"It won't happen again, it swear I won't! The cop who  
arrested me in the first place had a gun! What else could I  
do?!" he cried while clutching his stomach. "I swear,  
please! Give me another chance, it won't ever happen again!"  
  
The man in the dark sighed, "Fine then, can you tell me  
at least the officer who was in charge of your  
investigation?"  
  
Misano cringed for a moment, "I don't know about the man  
who arrested me, he doesn't know anything, but the guy who  
interrogated me is Sergeant Juzo Kanemaki."  
  
"I know, we already knew that, someone already took care  
of him. But we didn't kill him though, I'm not sure killing  
a cop would deter them from this case." The man kicked him  
in the stomach again, "I guess you're off the hook for now."  
  
Misano slowly tried to get up clutching his stomach,  
"Arigato gozaimasu, I swear it won't happen again."  
  
The man in the dark kicked him back down, face flat on  
the floor. "I know you won't Misano."  
  
The last thing Misano heard before he saw complete  
darkness was a click from the back of his head.  
  
--------------------  
  
April 19th, 2001.  
Apartment #420, Okayama Luxury Condos. 1:58 AM  
  
RING RING, RING RING.  
  
Ranma opened his eyes and clumsily picked up his cell  
phone next to his futon.  
  
"Moshi-moshi, Captain Ranma Saotome here," Ranma said  
drowsily.  
  
"Hi, I'm Detective Daizaemon Kanzaki, is this Detective  
Saotome?"  
  
"Yeah it is," grumbled Ranma.  
  
"We have a 187 concerning the suspect you arrested, a  
Misano Hashimoto?"  
  
Ranma's foggy mind cleared up in an instant, "Yeah,  
that's my guy, what about him?"  
  
"I think you should get over here immediately sir."  
  
Ranma got up and hurried to his closet to get his  
clothes on, "Alright, set up a media blackout since it's  
late at night, and make sure you keep my updated on my radio  
instead of using my phone number."  
  
"Hai."  
  
---------------------  
  
Ranma arrived at the scene with his siren turned off but  
with his emergency lights flashing.  
  
Several officers and a few forensics scientists were in  
the alley, analyzing the dead body in front of them. There  
was a small trail of blood next to the head, flowing to a  
drain.  
  
Ranma stepped out of his car and flashed his  
identification to a detective, "I'm Captain Saotome, are you  
Detective Kanzaki?"  
  
A big man with white hair and a scar on his face turned  
around and greeted Ranma, "Yes sir, I'm the officer in  
charge for now."  
  
"Good, I'll give you priority on this case for now. Has  
anyone touched the body?" Ranma asked.  
  
"No, we waited until you would come, we were given  
explicit instructions to follow your orders sir."  
  
"Very good, now let's take a look at what happened  
here," Ranma said while walking over to the corpse on the  
ground. "Any of you have any gloves?"  
  
One of the forensic scientists handed Ranma a box a  
surgical gloves, he took a pair and wore them on his hands.  
"All right, let's see," Ranma said while getting a closer  
look at the body.  
  
There were bruises everywhere, half of them were  
probably from the detectives who tortured him for  
information. He examined the entire body with his hands,  
until he came to the head, he examined more closely.  
  
"Fuck, this poor bastard was shot with a gun," Ranma  
said. He grabbed the hair of Misano's dead body and jerked  
the head up, a gooey string of blood and saliva was flung  
across the pavement.  
  
"Yuck, shot in the back of the head, and exit wounds on  
his face," Ranma said. He twisted the head around to take a  
better look. "How did you guys find out about this?"  
  
"Some lady made a complaint thinking that a bunch of  
teenagers were playing with firecrackers in the middle of  
the night. A two man patrol arrived here first and then  
panicked, I was called in immediately along with forensics,  
and I recognized his face as the drug dealer that was  
released yesterday on bail," Detective Kanzaki said.  
  
"Damn, looks like we lost ourselves a source of info,"  
Ranma said.  
  
The detective and the two officers who were standing  
near by turned their heads in disgust, their face was  
turning green and there was a horrible stench coming from  
the body.  
  
Ranma took a good look at the mutilated face, "Jeez,  
looks like one of the bullets blew open his fucking nasal  
cavity and exposed the sinus," Ranma said, pointing to the  
bloody and messed up face, "See that yellow shit right  
there? That's from his fucking sinuses, that explains why  
the hell he smells like shit right now."  
  
The front of Misano's poor face looked pretty bad, his  
right eye was missing along with a portion of some skull  
bone of his eye socket and his upper left cheek was blown  
away exposing the yellow sinus cavity that Ranma had pointed  
out. There wasn't much blood, most of it had already drained  
out or clotted messily, and the rest of his bodily fluids  
like his saliva had just pooled in with the blood.  
  
Detective Kanzaki rolled his eyes and took a deep  
breath, he may have been a homicide detective but it was  
usually limited to stab victims or people hit by cars, not  
gory gunshot wounds.  
  
With a sigh, Ranma put the head back down and took  
another look at the back of the scalp, touching everything  
with his fingers.  
  
"I say this was a close range, execution style death,"  
Ranma finally said. "See this rupture of his scalp? The way  
his skin is torn apart and the flesh is burnt?" he pointed  
out, "It's probably from the muzzle blast of the damn  
firearm."  
  
The forensic scientist took note of what Ranma said and  
continued to take pictures and write things down.  
  
"All right," Ranma snapped off his rubber gloves and  
threw them in a biohazard basket nearby and looked over to  
Detective Kanzaki, "Alright Detective, I want you guys to  
search for anymore clues around this area then bag him. I  
found some slugs on the ground under his head, they looked  
like they were in pretty good condition, so I want you to  
take them to a lab and get a ballistics test, and continue  
to find shell casings or something. This is a huge problem,  
we have clear evidence that there are fucking firearms on  
the loose in the city."  
  
"Yes sir."  
  
The radios of all the officers there including Ranma's  
cell phone radio chirped, a garbled voice came through.  
  
"This is unit 4-King-52, we have a 187 in front of the  
Okayama Police Department, Detective Kanzaki please  
respond..."  
  
Ranma's eyes opened wide as he noticed that it was  
Kiyone's voice, "You guys worry about Misano, I'll take this  
call." The others nodded.  
  
"This is Captain Saotome, what's the situation?"  
  
"Ranma is that you?" the voice asked incredulously.  
  
"Yeah, it is Kiyone, what's happened?"  
  
Kiyone's voice turned serious, "We have a homicide in  
front of the police station, right in the middle of the  
street. We got some HEA-VY shit right here, get over here  
quick."  
  
"Special Agent en route, cordon off the area and make  
sure there's a media blackout, I want everything to be  
discreet."  
  
"Roger."  
  
-----------------  
  
Ranma hastily arrived in front of the Okayama Police  
Department in a few minutes, there were several officers  
surrounding the area, but there were no forensic scientists  
this time. Kiyone was standing in the middle of the street  
next to a dead body.  
  
Ranma parked the car next to a patrol car and walked  
over to Kiyone. All the other officers had turned their  
heads around so they couldn't see the corpse.  
  
Kiyone's face looked grim, she was writing something on  
a notepad. She looked up and saw Ranma in front of her.  
  
"This is some pretty serious stuff, I've never seen  
anything like it here," Kiyone said while pointing to the  
dead body.  
  
Ranma looked down, and sighed deeply.  
  
It was a young pregnant woman, she had a big knife stuck  
right through her belly, she had bruises all over her neck  
and face. Ranma circled around a bit and saw her head, it  
looked like someone had bashed it in with a club, the skull  
had cracked and caved in, tearing the flesh of the scalp.  
  
"Jeez, when did you guys find her?" Ranma asked.  
  
"About twenty minutes ago, an officer saw a van dropping  
off a pregnant woman in the middle of the street. When he  
saw the body he panicked and didn't even occur to him to  
chase down that van," Kiyone said. "I arrived here just a  
few minutes ago with Mihoshi, we were woken up in the middle  
of the night. Mihoshi is in her office right now, she was  
crying when she saw the body."  
  
Ranma shook his head and sighed, "Do you have any idea  
how long she's been dead?"  
  
"Probably a couple of hours, her body is still giving  
off a little bit of heat."  
  
"What about the baby?" Ranma asked slowly.  
  
Kiyone sighed and looked up at Ranma, her eyes were red.  
"The fetus was about 32 weeks old, almost ready to be born.  
It was probably killed instantly when the knife was pierced  
through, and it's definitely dead by now since the mother  
has been dead for over an hour."  
  
Ranma looked around, Kiyone had done a good job of  
locking the area down and keeping out unsuspecting people.  
He looked back down at the dead woman.  
  
"You guys have any idea who she was?" Ranma asked.  
  
Kiyone nodded, "The tragic thing is that she was the  
wife of one of our Narcotics Detectives."  
  
Ranma's eyes widened, he grabbed Kiyone's shoulders.  
"What did you say? She's the wife of a narc?"  
  
Kiyone was startled, "Yeah, she was."  
  
Ranma breathed slowly and carefully, "What was the  
detective's name?"  
  
"Detective Sergeant Juzo Kanemaki."  
  
"He wouldn't have anything to do with the guy I arrested  
right?"  
  
Kiyone nodded again, "He was the detective in charge of  
handling your drug dealer, he was also the one who handled  
the interrogation and all the info."  
  
Ranma let go of Kiyone and put his hand on his forehead.  
"Shit." Ranma turned to Kiyone again, "Did you hear of that  
homicide behind some alley a couple of minutes ago?"  
  
"Yeah, I heard that Kanzaki was handling that one,"  
Kiyone said, she was a little confused as to what Ranma was  
thinking.  
  
"I just came back from that scene," he sighed. "Remember  
Misano? The druggie I arrested and got released on bail? The  
one you told me about? He just got two bullets through the  
back of the head about thirty minutes ago."  
  
"You think there's a connection?"  
  
"Definitely. I think we stumbled onto something big  
here."  
  
The two were interrupted as they heard a cry from  
behind, a man was crying out and screaming to see his wife.  
  
"Oh boy, there's Juzo." Kiyone watched as the man tried  
to punch the officers who were holding him back from the  
crime scene. She shook her head, "I feel so sad for him,"  
Kiyone grimly said.  
  
Ranma pointed out to a couple of officers, "Get that man  
restrained and calm him down, I want someone to brief him on  
what happened," he turned to Kiyone again, "I don't want him  
to see the body right now, he'll go berserk, I know how it  
feels."  
  
Kiyone looked confused with what he just said, but  
complied anyways. "All right. Are you gonna take this case?"  
  
"No, you have tactical command for now. I'm gonna have  
to deputize you to lieutenant status for now, ANYTHING that  
comes from this investigation will come to me, not to your  
given superiors."  
  
While a promotion as big as that would've excited Kiyone  
to no ends, she was in no mood for celebrating right now.  
"Understood, I'll get the body to a forensics team and  
analyze everything."  
  
"You go and do that," Ranma said. "Do you know who I  
think did this?" he asked.  
  
"I might be thinking the same thing. If these two  
homicides are related..."  
  
"There's a good chance a Yakuza family is involved. This  
is all too professional and violent for average street thugs  
to be doing. I can't think of any other crime related group  
that would do something like this or have the resources to  
possibly pull it off."  
  
"Organized crime indeed."  
  
Kiyone walked off and started talking through her radio,  
Ranma crouched down to the dead corpse to get a better look  
again. It was such a shame to see anyone getting killed  
this way.  
  
"It looks like someone decided to have their own crime  
spree tonight," he looked back down on the body and he grit  
his teeth. "And that motherfucker is gonna pay for it!"  
  
[End Chapter 4]  
  
  
  
Disclaimer: Yadda yadda yadda, none of this shit don't  
belong to me, I know. I'm not using anything for profit.  
It's only fucking fanfiction, what money can I make out of  
it? o_O  
  
Author's Ramble: Now, I know I promised many that I was  
gonna have maybe 60 to a 100 pages for the next chapter, but  
as I kept writing and plotting things out, I just found that  
it just wouldn't work. I was originally planning for  
something much darker, put I decided I should end this  
chapter for here and continue on in another chapter so that  
the story would flow better.  
  
Author's Notes: Several things, the psychology reports are  
my best efforts at trying to construct something realistic  
enough to pass as the real thing, and some of the names of  
the officers I used were taken out from the movie "LA  
Confidential". Also, you may have noticed that some of the  
names in this chapter were taken from the anime "Battle  
Athletes Victory", or known to some as "Daiundokai".  
  
I know many of you might flame me for trying to add some  
more drama to Ranma's life by giving him a fiancee who had  
died while he was in Los Angeles, but I felt it necessary  
because it further explained why Ranma has become so  
sadistically cold and ruthless when it comes to law  
enforcement.  
  
The show portrayed "LAPD: LIFE ON THE BEAT" was a real  
show that was quite popular in Southern California until it  
had to be canceled due to bad publicity from the LAPD  
Rampart scandal. The action scene I portrayed was actually  
inspired by the movie "Lethal Weapon 4", for those who  
recognize it. ^_^  
  
I also wanted to include a detailed description of how  
Ichino was killed in the line of duty, what I wrote actually  
reflects on what would really happen if someone decided to  
kill a cop in LA and somehow escaped. Police officers, all  
they many might not like each other or even hate each other,  
somehow miraculously band together like a tight family when  
it comes to losing one of their own. What I described is not  
too far off if there was ever a situation where someone  
killed a cop and got away with it. There would be a fucking  
county wide manhunt to kill his ass. Not one person in the  
history of the Los Angeles has ever gotten away alive from  
killing a cop. They always get hunted down.  
  
Also, the description of the dead bodies (like the way  
the face is mangled and how the shot looks like) is an  
extremely accurate depiction of what gunshot wounds and  
deaths look like in real life, depicted from my experiences  
on the job. My first homicide response during patrol looked  
sorta like the description I gave in the picture Akane was  
holding and the way Misano looked like when he got shot. Of  
course, the first time I saw a shot up body up close in REAL  
LIFE was shocking enough for me to vomit in a street when no  
one was looking. In real life there isn't blood splattered  
everywhere, just this nasty...shit, in front of you. And  
like Ranma described, it smells REALLY bad when a bullet  
strikes the wrong part of the human anatomy. The sinus area  
in your skull is one of the worst (at least in my opinion).  
  
From now on, my preceding chapters are gonna keep having  
more dark and gruesome events, I'll focus on Ranma and  
Kiyone slowly, but I'll focus more on the action as time  
goes by.  
  
  
A big praise to my prereader Kenneth Payne, or KPJAM,  
who made sure that I edited this fic so I don't look like a  
fucking moron.  
  
  
PLEASE, PLEASE, PLEASE SEND ME FEEDBACK!!! I write way  
faster when people give me feedback! My e-mail is  
SgtRanma@yahoo.com . However, if you're one of those people  
who say I write things that are too dark and gruesome or  
some shit like that, don't bother, because I don't force  
anyone to read this fic if they don't like it.  
  
Visit my website at http://sgtranma.0catch.com, or go  
to http://sgtranma.0catch.com/guns.html to take a look at  
some of the weapons Ranma uses in Officer Saotome. I always  
update there often, and fics always come there first.  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  



	5. 05 What Goes Around Comes Around

IMPORTANT!!!!!!! If this is the first time you're reading this fic, you must read starting from Chapter 1 completely first! This story will seem very ridiculous and out of place if you don't.

This fic is a crossover with Ranma and the Tenchi OAV/Universe series. Hopefully you readers know some basic knowledge about both Ranma and Tenchi:) Compared to movies, I would rate this as a "R" fanfic, because of some of the harsh language used. This ain't a lemon though, I don't plan on having any sex scenes at all.

*Special Note. For those of you who are not mature enough to handle extremely graphic descriptions of violence and gore, I suggest you do not read this chapter. You have been warned. But if you like that kind of stuff, go on ahead.*

Here are a few things you must know while reading this:

-For all of you readers, PLEASE read the notes at the end of the fic before you start flaming me for things that you don't understand or think is bogus, my notes just might answer all your questions. If that doesn't do it, feel free to pound away at my mailbox.

-The Ranma aspect of the story takes place after manga 38 and the Tenchi aspect takes place after the TV show/OVA.

-At the end of manga 38 Ranma was at the end of his sophomore year in Furinkan High School and the year is set to 1992. Don't ask why, I chose that particular date out of convenience. This is to punctuate the times that Akane and Ranma met during their lives.

-Also Ranma still has his curse, but his female form has black hair (like the manga) and is now just as tall as his male form.

-For now in this universe Ranma's curse is accepted just about everywhere with a quick explanation by Ranma. Don't ask why, it just makes the story easier to understand.

-Ranma will seem very out of character, but you have to completely read from the first chapter to understand why.

-SgtRanma

Please visit my website at .com! New fics will always appear there first! And I update often!

------------------------

Chapter 5: What Goes Around, Comes Around

April 19th, 2001.

Back alley, Kyo's Corner Arcade - Okayama, Japan. 12:42 PM.

"We got ourselves a live one here!"

Ranma hurried out of his car and ran to the big trash dumpster where Kiyone was crouching next to a body.

"What do you got, Lieutenant?"

Kiyone signaled Ranma over to what looked like a wooden handle stuck to the back of a young kid's head. The kid was wearing what looked like a school uniform, complete with a light jacket. Kiyone sighed and rolled the kid over to his front.

"I think he's still alive," Kiyone said. "He has an irregular pulse. Paramedics are already on the way."

Ranma gave a hard look to the young kid's face, he couldn't have been more than seventeen or sixteen years old. He was most likely a kid still in high school. The kid had some streaked yellow and blue hair dyed into his wild, juvenile haircut, complete with gelled up spikes. It was amazing how much more liberal kids of yonder were these days.

"What do you guys know about him so far?" Ranma asked.

Kiyone turned the kid over, his blue blazer flipped open, and his legs and arms twitched slightly. The kid let out a ghastly moan from his lips, an almost gurgling sound. Any attempts to resuscitate him now would be left to paramedics.

"The kid ain't gonna make it," Ranma said grimly. "He has an ice pick or some kind of rod stuck in the back of his skull, he's probably if not already going brain dead," he sighed. "Why the fuck is there a dead kid here behind a damn arcade alley? I thought I wouldn't see any of this shit after leaving LA," he said, blowing a frustrated breath and swinging his arm and gesturing towards nothing in particular. Seeing young kids getting killed still penetrated morbid feelings into the depths of Ranma's cold heart.

Kiyone winced at Ranma's cold comment, yet he was telling the harsh truth. She searched his body anyways despite moving around his body and decreasing his already low chance of survival. She reached inside a jacket pocket and smirked, she pulled out several crude needles and small packets of heroin and cocaine.

She held them out for Ranma to see. "I guess whoever killed him was sloppy at getting rid of any incriminating evidence. We responded to a kid who dialed for emergency services when he saw the body. He thought he was just unconscious. We told him the same thing and told him that he was no longer required."

Ranma nodded, and opened up a pig plastic evidence bag for Kiyone to put the drugs in. At that moment, an ambulance came through the alley with sirens and lights blazing. It wasn't one of those huge American style ambulances with the big box cab in the back, it was just a regular passenger van converted with medical equipment.

"Damn." Ranma looked over to Kiyone. "I'll tell them to transport the kid to a hospital or to a coroner if he's dead, in the meanwhile I want you to ask around the local people, the schools, probe anyone who could have info on this little drug dealer." Ranma sighed. "I guess we'll have to cancel dinner together tonight."

Kiyone nodded and started walking away with a note pad in one hand and a pen in the other.

"Oh yeah, and lieutenant?" Kiyone turned her head around for a moment. "If it is required, you are to interrogate with the utmost efficiency," Ranma finished, his voice cold and void of emotion.

Kiyone nodded with a stiff look in her eyes. She knew exactly what he meant.

***

April 19th, 2001

38th floor War Dept. – Jap. Defense Agency - Tokyo, Japan. 1:50 PM.

Nabiki typed furiously away on her computer keyboard, inputting info onto a computer database that was secured inside of her computer only.

Her office was quite large for someone of her position, a GS-10 level civilian government worker. Nabiki had lied to all her friends and family about her occupation as a vice president of finance for some bigwig corporate company. It wasn't all a lie; she was involved in finance, albeit for the Japanese government. The Japanese Defense Agency, in fact. Director of Finances and Assets. Many saw it as quite an oddball occupation. But unbeknownst to those who did not know, this young brunette controlled every single firearm and every single bullet that came through Japan by sea or air. That didn't necessarily mean she knew much about the weapons that she approved, she didn't know jack shit about them actually. She was a master at managing money. Guns and tid bits about them were someone else's concern. She did what she knew best, managing money, and the handling of sensitive information. This was HER niche.

So of course the room had to be large, not because she was an important person, but because her room required lots of hardware that aided in the security of all that sensitive information that passed through her computer day in and day out. She had a corner office, with a great view of Tokyo, 38 stories up. But the windows were pitch black from the outside, and coated with several layers of polycarbonate film and a thick layer of almost indestructible polymer on top of that. Enough to stop a barrage of high power rifle fire before the steel armor inside of the office covered up the windows for further protection. It wouldn't do if a sniper decided to take her out from an adjacent skyscraper.

The Ice Queen loved her money, but she loved the power as well. For someone so young, at the age of 27, Nabiki commanded a lot of authority. Not just the power of money. That was chump change compared to what she could do with the power of supreme authority over the majority of the public. THAT was something money just couldn't buy. The power of supremacy was an earned privilege.

Nabiki paused for a moment and took her hands away from the keyboard. She leaned back in her big, ergonomic office chair with cheap cloth trim, not the luxurious Italian leather clad executive kind that she wished she could have. Oh, how she would treasure the feeling of buttery soft Nappa leather with rich walnut armrests, and a huge executive desk lined with laser cut glass and the finest gold trim for all her drawer handles. She just loved thinking about all the high class, impractical, goodies she could have, just for the hell of it. Who gave a shit if it was all superficial happiness anyway? But that's life, Nabiki knew that. Beggars can't be choosers.

The thought that Ranma was a lot higher than her in rank put a frown on her face. Heh, the more she thought about it actually the more she scowled. A dumb jock idiot like him held one of the highest-ranking military/police positions in the country. Nabiki on the other hand had worked savagely and mercilessly to climb her way up to where she was now.

"It's no use thinking about something that's already happened," Nabiki said absently to herself. She heaved a heavy sigh and placed her slender fingers back on the keyboard.

She had to complete these orders when she had the time, or else someone would notice what she was doing.

RING RING.

Nabiki stopped and looked at her telephone before picking up the receiver.

"Moshi, moshi."

"Is this Nabiki Tendo?"

"Director of Finances and Assets, JDA Agent Tendo Nabiki. How may I help you?"

"Why hello, Nabiki."

Nabiki frowned for a moment, her hand moved to the telephone, which was fused to her desk, and pressed a big red button. The earpiece emitted an audible click, confirming a switch to a secure channel routed to a digital signal scrambler that deterred eavesdropping. From there on the digital phone transmission would be passed through an encoding machine that carefully made sure to add a bunch of random garbled signals and alphanumeric binary codes to further mix up the call. But that wasn't the end of it either, it passed through a shit load of other gadgets unknown to the users of the phones. It was practically fool proof.

"Who is this?" Nabiki asked suspiciously.

"You know, there is no replacement-"

"-For cubic displacement. A saying said by many automobile enthusiasts. How UN-clever a password." She sighed mentally at the ridiculous catch phrase. "You're the liaison for the contract, yes?" Nabiki said cautiously, cleverly choosing which words to say to prevent her from being arrested in case this phone was somehow being tapped.

The voice on the other line laughed. "Why yes. I wanted to have an update of the shipment."

"A small amount already has been sent, I'm sure you already received some instructions."

"Yes we did."

"Check the location given tonight after midnight, everything should be there. I'll send the rest like I have agreed to later on. For now I will only give you a small portion of what you have asked for, more than enough I hope."

"Yes, it is. We will give you the rest of the money as promised right before you send us the rest of the shipment. We have already put 10 million yen in the account you gave us, I hope that will satisfy you."

Nabiki closed the window to the database she was working on and accessed one of her bank accounts on a secure internet line. She smiled at her newfound cash. "Thank you."

"Nice doing business with you Agent Tendo."

***

April 19th, 2001.

Forensics Dept, National Police HQ - Tokyo, Japan. 2:00 PM

The rubber clad forensic scientist casually pulled the white sheets off several corpses on steel examining tables. The stench from one of the bodies was horribly repulsive, both Kiyone and Ranma winced. The scientist was fortunate enough to have a filtered surgery mask on.

"What have you got for us guy?" Ranma asked.

"I've got about enough info on all these bodies to help out officers," the scientist said. He picked up a clipboard full of notes from a table and handed some papers to Ranma.

"What can you tell us?" Kiyone asked.

"That there's an amazing coincidence, that's what."

Ranma perked his head up from looking at the papers in his hand. "Eh? What do you mean?"

The scientist gave a grin that showed even with his mask, and pointed over to the dead pregnant women and the dead drug dealer from last night. "These two homicides are OBVIOUSLY connected to each other. This poor woman is the wife of a narco cat, and this poor bastard was the person was the guy interrogated by that detective."

Ranma winced at the mention of a cat, but maintained his composure.

"What I'm guessing according to what you two have submitted, is that the woman was killed to deter any further investigation, and the guy was killed to get rid of some loose ends. I'm also guessing you guys were already at the same conclusion, correct?"

The two detectives nodded. "Go on, I still don't see anything new, you're basically repeating what I wrote in my fucking report," Ranma said, slightly irritated.

"Hold on, I'll get there," the scientist said, taking his mask off. He tried his best to ignore Ranma's intimidating censure.

He walked over to the other body they had found today, the kid with the object in the back of his head. "The motives and people for these two murders are completely different from the dead kid you found today. But..."

"But what?" Kiyone said.

The scientist picked up two little plastic bags of white cocaine from a counter. "This bag of narcotics," the scientist shook it to point it out, "is the sample you gave as evidence when you arrested Misano." He shook the other bag. "This bag is from the kid you found a couple hours ago. The chemical signatures are IDENTICAL."

"What?!" Ranma and Kiyone exclaimed.

"That's right. Identical. These two homicides and the one from a couple hours ago were committed for two completely different reasons, but the cocaine chemical structure and mixture is identical. And you know what that means."

Ranma gave a small smile. "They're from the exact same supplier. We got ourselves a lead."

Kiyone gave a smirk too. "Can you tell us more about the bodies though doc?"

"Yeah, I was gonna get to that. Nothing much to say about the pregnant woman, she was stabbed first then smashed in the skull. Nothing unusual or special, except for how brutal her death was. The other one, Misano Hashimoto, was shot twice in the back of the head, close range execution style, two .380 slugs on the ground, and ejected casings. Fired from a very crude pistol, I might add. The shells were quite dirty and scratched, most likely from the extractor. And the firing pin signature on the primer is very light. All features of a poor handgun. I put all these notes in the papers I gave you."

Ranma nodded. "What else?"

The scientist pointed out some various bruises on Misano's corpse. "He was tortured, for one thing. Beaten quite heavily, most likely for intel. Then probably whacked."

"I doubt the guy knew much, he certainly didn't know who I was," Ranma said.

"The kid you found a couple hours ago, however, is a different story. We've already ID'd him. His name is Kusanagi, Hotaru. Only 17 years old, high school student. The wooden handle in the back of his head was actually an ice pick," the scientist said. He shook his head sadly. "Poor kid, died suffering. My diagnosis says he was stabbed last night, but he was still alive for hours on. He did become brain dead after a while though. By the time you guys must've found him he should have been a vegetable."

Kiyone breathed a nervous sigh. "Poor kid. Can you tell us what high school he came from? All the people I interrogated confirmed he was a drug dealer, but no one knew where he was from." Kiyone scowled mentally, rubbing her reddened knuckles. She had to punch and beat the shit out of several thugs that she talked to on the streets for even that much info.

"Well, that's an easy one. He's from Furinkan High School, down over in the Nerima district."

"What?!" Ranma's eyes opened wide, he grabbed the scientist. "He's from Furinkan High School?"

The doc tried to shove Ranma off. "Yeah, I confirmed that."

"What a coincidence, the name of the supplier that Misano confessed is also a student at Furinkan," Kiyone added.

Ranma stared wide eyed at Kiyone as well. He sighed and turned to the scientist.

"Thanks for the info doc. I want you to put these bodies in the morgue, but make sure you don't make it public that they're dead, is that clear?" Ranma asked.

"Yes sir, Detective."

-----------------

Ranma and Kiyone got back into their car, a brand new Mitsubishi Legnum VR-4. It looked like a very inconspicuous vehicle, an average station wagon in a very conservative pewter color. But for those who knew their automobiles, the Legnum VR-4 was a serious sports car, a perfect sleeper for the streets, surprising those who undermined its performance. Ranma's big Chevy looked out of place in Japan, and it was unsuitable for undercover duty. It was basically the government's gift to Ranma for being generous enough to work for them, nothing more. There were enough huge full size trucks around Tokyo from the American army base for the car to be seen as a legitimate government vehicle. Commander Takayama had given him instant approval and access to another car.

"So Ranma, why were you so surprised about that high school kid?" Kiyone asked. She was curious as to what was going on inside of Ranma's mind.

Ranma sat in the right hand side driver's seat, he hadn't started the car yet, he was tapping the steering wheel pondering something. "Kiyone, the bodies we found yesterday are still being held secret right? Held from the media?"

She nodded. "Yeah, I put out a media blackout like you ordered. And Detective Juzo is under some psycho care at the moment, he won't be doing anything rash for now, he's very unstable."

"Good. Good. Keep it that way."

Kiyone looked at him for a moment, still waiting for an answer. "You still didn't answer my question Captain."

Ranma looked over and stared at her eyes, he seemed to have been thinking something. "That kid's high school, Furinkan of Nerima, is where I used to attend."

"......" Kiyone blinked. Her eyes tightened. "You've gotta be kidding me."

"Nope," he answered simply. "I'm not. I'm guessing you're thinking exactly what I'm thinking, right?"

"Let me guess, going undercover as students there?"

Ranma nodded with a smirk. "I know a teacher there who will probably help out."

He brought his hand to the keys in the ignition and twisted. The engine came alive with a high-pitched growl and a vacuumed whir from the turbochargers, signaling their spooling. Ranma shifted the manual gearbox to reverse and started driving away, carefully modulating his left foot on the clutch and his right on the throttle. "Oy, the Japanese National Police doesn't let you use firearms, right?"

Kiyone shook her head. "No, they don't. All part of the strict gun control in Japan."

"You know how to shoot a firearm?" he asked with a grin.

"Ha!" Kiyone let out a laugh at Ranma. "I've been a cop way longer than you have, working in different parts of the universe. I can hold my own in marksmanship."

"Is that so?" Ranma unlatched the holster for his Sig Sauer P226 from his back and handed the pistol and holster to Kiyone. He also pulled out the suppressor for it from his jacket. "Use this as your piece, it's the one Washu tweaked for me so you'll never have to reload it. There is a laser-aiming module that is built in to the guide rod, you activate it by pressing the latch release button on the right side of the frame. The silencer should come in handy too."

"You know, that sounds so cheesy. Like something out of an action movie," Kiyone smirked, not noticing the gloomy look on Ranma's face at the playful joke. She pocketed the suppressor and examined the full sized pistol in her hand. It was light enough and felt very solidly built in her hand. It didn't excuse the fact that it was still horrible compared to her GP issue blaster. "This is such a primitive gun, light years away from Galaxy Police weapons."

"Ehehe..." Ranma sweatdropped. "It works fine enough for me."

"How do you work it? Besides pulling the trigger? It has these 3 levers on the left side, and who knows what. Only thing I recognize is the hammer, magazine release and the trigger."

"The lever on the farthest left is the disassembly latch for field stripping. The middle lever is the slide release, and the lever on the left side of the gun grip is the hammer decocker. The gun works on cased ammunition, you pull the slide, it loads a round by pushing a case from the magazine to the feeding ramp and onto the barrel. You pull the trigger, the hammer lands on firing pin, which lands on bullet, and poof, the gun fires. When the magazine is empty, the slide stays locked back and open after the last shot, which you won't have a problem with this gun, since Washu made it so that it never goes empty," Ranma finished. He took a deep breath from saying all of that at once.

Indeed it never goes empty, he thought. That night when he was going home from the Masaki's he stopped on the side of the road in the mountains and spent thirty minutes straight shooting his gun at the ground with his silencer attached. He must've fired about seven hundred rounds before he stopped. It boggled him to no ends as to how fantastic it was.

"Oh, I see. I know how to use these. I thought I remembered something about them. I read about them in ancient history books at the Academy."

"......"

----------------

April 19th, 2001.

Classroom 1F, Furinkan High School - Nerima, Japan. 2:46 PM.

"So, you've moved up to the senior classes, Hinako-sensei?"

A young and hyper Hinako flurried around the room with candy in her hands along with some kind of doll strapped to the top of her head.

"Wai, wai! Saotome-kun! It's been so long since we've seen each other!" Hinako cheered. She had a huge cutesy smile plastered on her kawaii face.

Ranma arched his eyebrows and tried to give out a smile to cover his irritation toward Hinako-sensei's behavior in her younger form. He rubbed his temples slightly to get rid of the habitual frustration he formed whenever he was with Hinako-sensei. Even after 9 years since he first met her, she hadn't changed much. Still acting like a little kid in her younger form, she now looked to be in the early teens instead of a prepubescent adolescent.

"Anyway, Hinako-sensei the reason we're here is because..."

"Let me guess, you want to become a teacher like me? That's so wonderful Saotome-Kun! Wai!" Hinako cheered.

Kiyone chuckled with her hand around her mouth. She was leaning against the wall near the doorway observing teacher and former student talking away. Ranma had warned her beforehand about the peculiarities of Hinako, but she didn't think it would be as bad as he said it would be.

Ranma gave out a sigh. "Actually Hinako-sensei, we came here for something else."

"Oh? What is it?" she asked with a cute smile.

"It's quite a serious matter, we came here to investigate the activities of a possible criminal in the school campus," Kiyone said, stepping forward.

"Eh?" Hinako turned to face Ranma.

"Yes, we're detectives sent to investigate," Ranma nodded. He hoped the Hollywood-esque description of who they were didn't sound too corny.

"Oh, ok then. Happo go yen satsu."

Hinako sat down on her desk chair and pulled out a five-yen piece. She aimed it at Ranma and drained his energy. He was caught by surprise, oddly his reflexes didn't react to Hinako's slow actions since it had been so long since she had drained him.

"Ack!" Ranma stood helplessly as Hinako drained out his aura. It wasn't as bad as during his teen years since he was much stronger now, but it still felt tiring. No, hold that thought. It felt like shit.

Hinako's body turned bigger, more mature, and of course the small clothes she was wearing as a child stretched almost to the point of bursting. Ranma mentally sighed as his strength withered. Everything was still the same.

Kiyone was unfazed by the transformation of a small child to adult. Weirder shit happened in the Masaki household on even a boring day.

"So Ranma-kun, what is it that's so serious?" Hinako asked in her sultry voice.

Ranma stumbled around for a moment, still fazed by the draining of his ki. He smacked himself in the head and focused his tired eyes.

"Well, first of all, I gotta tell you what we are. That's my partner over there; her name is Kiyone Makibi," he pointed out. "We're both detectives, she's a lieutenant from the Japanese National Police, I'm a captain from the National Security Agency."

Hinako gave an impressed nod and smirk to Ranma. "Sugoi, you've turned into a law man! So that's what you did with all that studying and hard work."

"Eh, it's a long story. Back to the subject. We need your help to stay undercover inside of Furinkan. Can you do that for us?"

"Hmmm..." Hinako frowned. "I want to have some more details on what you two are investigating."

Kiyone went up closer to the teacher's desk where Hinako was sitting to talk to her directly. "This past week there has been a string of murders around Okayama, we traced them to some narcotics dealers and a lead points out to this school. We are suspecting that there is a student here who is a drug liaison for some big drug dealer somewhere around the Okayama or Tokyo area."

"A drug dealer here? Surely you're mistaken," Hinako nervously said.

Her reaction didn't go unnoticed by Ranma. "It's true. We can't tell you how exactly we came to that conclusion, but we need your help to clean up the crime here. Will you cooperate?" Ranma asked.

"Of course, I'll do whatever is necessary to rid this school of delinquents."

Ranma smiled and pulled out a folded note from one of his pockets and handed it to Hinako. "Here's a list of things we want you to take care of, they should be pretty easy. I'll take care of the rest. I also want you to know that every word that has been said in this room is confidential, and you tell no one Ms. Hinako. Starting tomorrow, we're going to be enrolled seniors in Furinkan High."

***

April 19th, 2001.

Living Room - Tendo Home - Nerima, Japan. 6:25 PM.

"Itadakimasu!"

Akane sat down in between Ryoga and her older sister Kasumi who happened to be visiting along with her husband Tofu. The two had married about a year before she and Ryoga had, and even then Ranma had not come over to Japan to attend the wedding, even though he was sent an invitation.

The entire table was gorged with platters and platters of food, all made by Akane. Years and years of hard persistent practice paid off. Everyone forgot about her bad cooking, thanks to constant lessons from Kasumi.

Genma and Nodoka were present too, it was the first time they had come over since Ranma arrived in Japan. They had called beforehand that they were going to visit to have a conversation with them. With Tofu and Kasumi, Ryoga, herself, and her father, Akane had agreed to make a feast for dinner. In fact the only person who couldn't make it was Nabiki, who said she was far too busy with a certain project to join them.

Soun, Akane, and Ryoga always acted humble towards the Saotomes, after all, they were being extremely generous in even bothering to associate with the Tendo's, let alone eating dinner together. Although Genma and Nodoka didn't have any hard feelings towards Akane, she and her father Soun were still very uneasy around them even after 5 years of her relationship with Ryoga. After all, it was almost entirely Akane's fault for dishonoring the Tendo family, yet the reason why the Saotomes didn't spit on their family name and kill Ryoga was because Ranma had explicitly told his parents to forget about it, that their honor should be of no concern to the Tendos anymore and that it was none of their business.

"So, Auntie and Uncle, what brings you here?" Akane asked while scooping some rice into a bowl.

Nodoka laid her bowl and chopsticks down on the dining table and folded her hands on her lap. She looked sternly over to Akane and Ryoga. "We have come here to discuss some matters between you and Ranma. Since it's been nearly 2 weeks since he came back to Japan unexpectedly, we figured we should hurry up and talk to you about it."

Genma nodded quietly next to his wife. Actually, instead of sitting here having a serious conversation with the Tendos, he much rather wanted to finish his dinner as quickly as possible and have a shogi match with Soun. But his wife had clearly explained to him what would happen, polishing her sword in front of him to let him know how serious she was.

"What is it you'd like to discuss, Saotome-obasama?" Ryoga asked. He was feeling very tense, he tried to show his best smile towards the matriarch.

Soun, Tofu, and Kasumi stopped eating and put their eating utensils down on the table. They gave their utmost attention to Nodoka and stood silent.

Nodoka cleared her throat, and quietly sighed. "It's been two weeks since Ranma came here. I know that for all of us this was quite a shock as well as a surprise," Nodoka said. She looked over at her husband, and then fixed her eyes on everyone else around the table. "Genma and I couldn't be any happier, but it seems that even in the first day he arrives here he seems to have gotten into an altercation with this family," she said, in a cold voice.

Ryoga bit the inside of his cheek to keep from frowning, his temper started to rise. "Excuse me," Ryoga said snottily, "but--"

Before he could even finish his remark, Nodoka abruptly cut him off. "Silence! Wait till I am finished please!" Nodoka said sharply. These kids were just way too spoiled, she thought.

The others, including Genma, were taken aback and flinched. Ryoga shut his mouth tight, droplets of fear perspiring through the pores of his forehead. Everyone there knew that they should watch out for Nodoka when she was mad, only because they DIDN'T KNOW what she would do. It could be anything. The contradicting feature to that was also the fact that the Saotome matriarch was a kind and gentle person as well.

"All of you know that Ranma disappeared 4 years ago and he lost touch with every one of you here. The only thing you did know was that he became a cop somewhere in California. What you don't know is the amount of stress he went through while living there," she said.

The others nodded in return. Akane and Ryoga, on the other hand, were trying their best not to pale at her statement. They had already received a small glimpse of how his life had been like.

Nodoka fixed a strong glare towards Akane, and especially at Ryoga. "Even though he didn't speak to his own parents much, he did tell us of some the problems he encountered while living there. For the few days he's stayed with us before moving out to Okayama, he was thoughtful enough to tell us of some of the horrible things he's seen and experienced, and yet... even now I still think he hides his past from us. And that I can't do anything about."

"Oh my," Kasumi let out. "What happened to him while he was in America Saotome-obasama?"

Soun lit his cigarette and took a strong puff, he didn't have much of an appetite anymore, since BOTH Saotomes had come to visit them. He sagely nodded, and looked towards Genma and Nodoka. "What is it you would like us to do Nodoka? We'll do anything you ask."

"We're not here to intimidate you, Tendo," Nodoka replied harshly. "We're here to set up a truce, a treaty if you may."

Lifting his cigarette away, Soun nodded. "Go on."

Before Nodoka could explain, Ryoga snapped in. "Hold on there, what kind of treaty are you talking about Mrs.-"

Without even finishing his question Ryoga stopped as he felt the tingling of cold steel caressing the base of his throat.

"You'll hear everything you need to Ryoga-kun," she gently said. "If you're a good boy and listen, you'll hear everything you need to. For now, be a proper young man, like my son would be, and allow me to speak," Nodoka coldly said. The atmospheric temperature shot down to hell for a couple moments.

Genma shifted nervously on his tatami mat, his wife's cold hearted expression left him shaking in fear. How ironic it was for a male who lives on the principle of being a man among men. He looked over to his friend Soun, who was tense as well. He hoped his wife wouldn't ruin the prospect of a shogi game between him and Soun.

"Now, as I was saying. We need to make some amends with each other for Ranma's sake." Nodoka pulled out a small note from a pocket and unfolded it. "I wrote down a couple of reasonable edicts for us to follow. I'm hoping the rest of you will agree."

The sound of two people (namely a certain young couple) gulping a lump down their throats could be heard across the dining room.

Tofu and Kasumi sat in their places with the biggest smile they could possible plaster on their nervous faces. Kasumi winced internally as she watched Ryoga and Akane's uneasy body language. They were practically screaming, "CRAP!"

However, it didn't excuse the fact that they both deserved this anyhow. Kasumi was VERY upset when Tendo honor was compromised, if there was one thing she treasured along with her family's love, it was her pride and honor. It was by a slim miracle on Ranma's part that he didn't place the blame on the Tendo's.

When people heard through the grapevine of what had happened between Ranma and Akane over four years ago, they were flabbergasted. For some reason, everyone who knew him, whether they would admit it or not, acquired a newfound respect for Ranma for being as merciful as he was. For a person who spent the last couple of his years studying his ass off for a girl he loved with all his heart, he took it pretty well when she stabbed his heart and stuffed it down his throat from a fucking platter.

Kasumi glanced at her husband, who was at the moment sweating through the phony cheer on his face as Nodoka talked to all of them. Getting married and breaking away from her family for her own independence changed Kasumi quite a bit, despite how protective Tofu was of her. It had taken him a while to get over his zaniness for her, but he eventually got the balls to ask her out once he finally got the sense that neither of them were going to get any younger.

In the background, Nodoka droned on and on about how Ranma should be handled, and what precautions everyone should take against him. Everyone sat patiently listening to her every word, Akane was flushed red with shame and Ryoga looked paler as every second passed by. Through all her talk and rhetoric though, it really just narrowed down to a couple of things. Do not provoke Ranma into violence, do not bother or harass him unnecessarily, and try to make peace with him somehow.

Twiddling his fingers, Genma let out a small sigh as his wife made some finishing remarks to her long speech. It had gone on for only about ten minutes, but it felt like hours. Oh, if only at times like this he wished he could temporarily have his panda curse. He could tune out the rest of the world and not care a whit about the problems that surrounded him.

"--and that is all I have to say on that matter. I have nothing else to add," Nodoka finished. She immediately had a kind smile on her face. "Now, let's enjoy this fine meal that Akane has cooked for us."

The others let out their breaths, looking visibly relieved. Genma being his hungry self started shoveling down the food in front of him (although not as rudely as he used to, with the vacancy of Ranma to fight over with). The others started into some small talk and their chitchat, talking about nothing in particular.

Akane looked over to her husband who was chatting along with Tofu-sensei about martial arts and healing remedies. Soun and Genma seemed to be talking about how much they were looking forward to their Shogi game after dinner. Kasumi-oneechan and Nodoka-obasama seemed to be talking about cooking.

Not feeling much of an appetite, Akane sat to herself picking around her rice and eating a couple of small bites. She was pondering about what Ranma was doing right now. Nodoka eventually noticed Akane.

"Dear, what's wrong?" the elderly woman asked.

Akane perked her head up and looked at her, scrambling in her mind for something to say. "Oh, nothing, obasama. I was just thinking for a second," she said lamely.

"Oh? What is it?"

"Um..." Akane bit her lip for a second, debating if she should ask or not. She went with the former. "I was wondering where Ranma lives right not, since he doesn't stay in your house."

This caught the attention of the others, and especially Ryoga, who had a scowl on his face.

"Well, as a matter of fact he has a condo up in Okayama Akane-chan. Me and Genma were thinking of going there sometime this week," Nodoka said smiling. "Would you like to come with us?"

"I'll have to give you a rain check on that, obasama. Thank you though." Akane looked over to Ryoga who had a questioning look on his face.

"That's no trouble, dear. You tell us immediately if you wish to join us."

Akane slowly nodded her head. "Yes, obasama."

---------------

After dinner was over, Kasumi and Akane cleaned off the dining table while everyone else parted to do their own thing. The two sisters stayed behind in the kitchen to wash and dry the dishes.

While Genma and Soun were starting off their match and Nodoka and Tofu talked about herbal therapies, Ryoga quietly snuck into the kitchen behind Akane and Kasumi.

"Hey Kasumi, I'll take care of the dishes, it's my duty as a host," Ryoga said.

A slightly startled brunette turned around to give Ryoga a smile. "There's no need, Ryoga-kun, I enjoy doing this."

"No, no, I insist. Please, let me take care of it," Ryoga smiled back.

"Well, thank you." Kasumi wiped her hands and arms with a towel and left the married couple in the kitchen.

Akane watched as her sister exited the kitchen and Ryoga dipped his arms in the sink to wash the dishes.

"Ok, Ryo-chan, what did you want to talk to me about?"

Ryoga didn't take his eyes off the dishes. "I was wondering what we should do about what Nodoka-san told us," he replied.

"Ah..." understanding dawned her face. "Yeah, me too. I guess we have to try to make amends with Ranma somehow, Ryo-chan."

Ryoga's brow wrinkled slightly, his voice getting taut. "I don't like that. I still have to beat him down and make him pay for what he did to me."

"What he did to you?" Akane frowned at the bandanna boy. "Ryoga, Saotome-obasama may be right. I mean... think of all he must've been through while he was overseas. We read his psychology reports and his videos with our own eyes, he's been scarred for life."

While most people would think that a person would mature as he/she gains wisdom and the experience of events through the course of time, Ryoga just wasn't one of them.

"So what? That bastard has made my life miserable! I trekked for years on my own with no one to help me out or care for me or..." Ryoga looked over to Akane's pupils, with a soft look in his own eyes.. "...or no one to love me. Ranma was the cause for all of that! He bullied me in junior high, humiliated me through our teen years, and even now... Even a couple of weeks ago he comes back, ruins a happy occasion, insults everyone there, and to top it all off he breaks my damn arm." He pointed out his flexible elbow splint, which was worn as a precaution in case his joint dislocated again.

Akane shook her head and exhaled a breath of frustration. "Jesus, come on Ryo-chan, we have to be careful now. You know what I mean. I don't want to be Ranma's enemy forever, I don't want to have bad blood among us because of our stubbornness. Please tell me you won't do anything rash and regretful, okay, honey?"

Ryoga shook his head and sighed. "All right. For you, Akane-chan. You know I'll do anything for you."

With that, the shorthaired girl gave a smirk and tiptoed to give her lover a sweet kiss to the lips.

***

April 19th, 2001.

Outside Kiyone and Mihoshi's Apartment - Okayama, Japan. 4:30 PM.

"I'll pick you up tomorrow, remember to dress in the right stuff and find a way to hide your piece, if you can't call me and I'll try to get a holster for you," Ranma said.

Kiyone nodded and grabbed her purse from the backseat. "So, tomorrow morning, at 6:00 AM?"

Ranma scratched his head. "Yeah. I'm gonna go and set up some undercover ID's for ourselves, and a place to stay in Nerima temporarily in case anyone gets suspicious. You go ahead by yourself with Mihoshi and take care of the homicides that have been assigned to you."

"What are you going to be doing in the meantime?" Kiyone asked.

"I have to report to my commander, he beeped me for something."

"Oh, ok then," she nodded off. "I'll see you later then, bye."

"Ja ne."

He shifted the car out of neutral and whipped the Legnum around to make a U-turn, waving to Kiyone as he drove past her. This car was equipped with a crudely installed GPS system that was tacked onto the dashboard, unlike his Chevy Tahoe, which had an instrument panel that neatly integrated LCD screen on the console. This car actually had a laptop module with a modified keyboard glued on.

He pressed one of the preset buttons on the receiver, pinpointing and routing a direct course to JNSA HQ in downtown Tokyo. Ranma frowned as he saw the data computing, according to the CPU's calculations it would take him an hour to get to his destination, especially in the rush hour traffic.

Ranma paid no attention to the speed limit posted on the street signs and downshifted the car from fifth to third gear, in the blink of an eye he double-clutched (his meticulous martial artist precision allowed him to be quite a skilled driver) and perfectly matched the RPM while slamming the throttle, causing the engine to howl loudly and the car to bog and surge forward as the turbochargers kicked in and picked up on the lag. "Might as well get a move on it..."

----------------

"Stick it up your fucking ass why don't ya!?"

"Why don't you make me you fucking blind ass cockroach!? It was my right of way!"

"Fuck you and your ugly fucking momma!"

"You son of a bitch!! I'll kill you!"

Two men climbed out of their mangled cars in the middle of the street, clogging up traffic in the middle of downtown Tokyo. The two jumped on top of their crumpled hoods and duked it out with each other, throwing raging punches wildly, in an effort to draw first blood. It seemed that when the traffic light turned green one of the drivers had tried to make a U-turn while a car from the other side was going straight. The two met head on, shifting the cars perpendicular to the street.

A dull gray Mitsubishi station wagon rounded the corner block, the driver a dreary eyed irritated woman glumly steering with one hand while trying to wipe water off her face with the other.

"I can't believe this. I CANNOT believe this. How the hell does that damn ladle lady find me? How? And in the middle of Tokyo for crying out loud!" a red hot Ranma-chan smacked her forehead in disbelief. The entire right panel of her door had droplets of water beading off, and the window was rolled all the way down.

Ranma absentmindedly kept her car straight on course; she didn't notice the traffic pileup that was accumulating in front of her. Of course, there were no other cars in her direction; it was all on the other side, leading to a collision course with the two men rumbling on the hood of their cars.

One of the disgruntled drivers was about to execute a sloppy uppercut on the others face when he saw a station wagon speeding straight towards him with no sign of stopping. The other guy turned his bruised his head to see the same thing.

"Holy shit!" both blurted.

"Nani?" Ranma-chan blinked and her eyes opened wide in comprehension. "Holy shit!"

Ranma instinctively double clutched and shifted the car into first causing the engine to brake the engine, slamming her brakes and swerving her car to the left while yanking her parking brake lever as hard as she could. The car skidded on its side, swiveling wildly, the tires smoked out and screeched loud enough to paralyze the two men on the hood.

"Damn it!" Ranma tried everything she could to get the car stable, it screeched to a halt centimeters away from the two men and their cars.

Ranma looked out from her driver side window, seeing how close she was to a TC. "Whew..." she sighed. She checked to see if her transmission was mangled from the emergency stop, fortunately it wasn't.

Both of the men who were fighting forgot what they were doing for the moment and kneeled to face Ranma-chan with bewildered looks on their faces.

"You stupid bitch! Watch where you're goin'!"

"Dumb fucking broad! Are you fucking retarded or something?"

Ranma looked up with an irritated look on her face, her destination was only a couple of meters down in the underground parking entrance, she did not need another obstacle after 50 minutes of driving in slow city traffic.

"Hey bud, it was a small mistake, gimme a break will ya?" Ranma-chan sighed.

Both men sneered back at her, too enraged in what had happened to notice what a knockout beauty she was.

"Fuck you bitch!" the man closest to her whipped his arm to backhand Ranma-chan across the face.

Ranma-chan grunted her disapproval as she caught the hand and twisted it to have the back of the hand pushed away against the wrist. The man screamed in pain, his body slipped to the side as his body squirmed.

The other man threw a clumsy punch towards Ranma's face, aiming downwards from his awkward position on the hood of the car. She merely pulled her head back and let the fist fly past her. Ranma elbow jabbed the man fast and hard impacting his jaw, she then pushed him away the best she could and grabbed his head, slamming it through the windshield of the car he was on. She noticed that the man with the injured wrist was recovering and attempting to make another strike, so she made a vice of her hands on the guy's throat, activating a pressure point to send an overflow of blood to one of the veins, causing him to pass out.

"Damn you two for wasting my time," she huffed. Ranma picked up the receiver for her radio that was attached to the center console and pressed a button. She brought the mike to her lips and clicked the transmitter. "Tokyo Metro, Tokyo Metro, please come in, this is a federal agent transmitting, unit 5-King-90-16." Ranma had the opportunity to choose any alphanumeric ID she wanted, she had chosen her old one that she had gotten used to while working in LA.

The radio chirped back. "Tokyo Metropolitan Police, go ahead."

"Yeah, I have two guys here who assaulted a peace officer and a TC in front of the west wing of JNSA Headquarters, requesting a patrol unit to reprimand them, over." Ranma peeked over to see the two guys still unconscious.

"10-4, Bokutou Traffic Division units are on the way."

Ranma snapped the receiver back to its plastic holding rack and pulled her car away from the traffic collision. She maneuvered around with her code 3 lights blaring to plow through the sidewalk. She entered the garage of the JNSA after showing her identification to a couple of heavily armed sentries around the perimeter.

After parking the car and getting out, she headed towards the elevator and into the lobby, where she had to walk through to yet another elevator, one which was restricted to only high ranking officers. Being a captain, Ranma fell under this category.

She didn't notice the appreciative looks and the ogling she was receiving from the men around her, and the jealous glares of the OL's and female operatives who were walking past her or being passed by her. Even the arrogant ones who considered themselves beauties were shamed by how perfect and damn good looking this 6-foot stranger was. And this was all through Ranma's masculine clothes she usually wore in male form.

After years of having a curse, Ranma sometimes just forgot that she was transformed into a girl; after all it was her own body. And after years of not having any fiancées chasing after him, she didn't pay much attention to people who checked him out for his/her looks.

She eventually came to the 46th floor, the Public Safety Commission operations floor. Each floor of this skyscraper was huge, some of them specially made to intertwine staircases with adjacent upper and lower floors. Ranma headed off to a large steel door outside the elevator and in the corridor. The door had no knob, just a large control panel next to it that had a retina scan, latent scan, and a magnetic card scanner. The sign read, Maximum Enforcement Unit Command

"Please identify yourself," an electronic voice indicated.

Ranma pulled out her NSA card, and slipped it into the scanner. She then put her hands on the latent scan and she stuck her face in the rubber molding for her eyes.

A laser beam flashed through her eyes and a blue light shimmered at her hands, a green light illuminated brightly on the machine.

"ID confirmed. Welcome, Captain Saotome, Ranma," the machine chirped.

"Weird shit..." she said, walking through the opened door.

She walked in and out to a large area, there was a flurry of people working on their computers and carrying around files and boxes. They were all civilian workers however, none of them were field agents. Ranma noticed the vaulted armory across the huge room was open, yet nobody was going near that area. The reason? No one would ever dare go into a field agent's territory.

"Oy, Ranma! Over here!"

Ranma turned to see Commander Takayama waving to her through an open door in another room. She walked over to greet him.

"Hello, sir. What was I called here for?"

Takayama gave her an appreciative nod, looking her over. "I must say, you look pretty damn fine in your female form. First time I've ever seen it."

Ranma blinked. Oh yeah, she was splashed as she was driving here, it didn't even occur to her to change back. Old habits died hard. She idly wondered how Takayama recognized her in girl form.

"Sir, where is Captain Saotome? I thought you said he was a boy," said a voice from behind.

The commander stepped to the side, revealing a young man with a crew cut and black tactical clothing. From first glance, it looked like he was physically fit and muscular underneath, and he was an intimidating 6' 3" tall. He had a condescending look in his eyes, he seemed to be glaring straight at Ranma, who was ignoring him at the moment and looking at the commander.

"Commander, who's this?" Ranma-chan asked.

Takayama replied, "Meet your new partner, Ranma. He's a "

The young man cut the commander off. "My name is Sergeant Jackson Samamoto, ex-French GIGN operative and current JNSA MaxFor Agent," he arrogantly said, particularly emphasizing the "GIGN operative" part. "And who are you? We're expecting a Captain Ranma Saotome." He was giving a chauvinistic ogle to the gorgeous girl in front of him.

Ranma gave him a glare. "He's already here," she said.

Takayama sighed and stepped back from the two, letting Ranma introduce herself.

Ranma pulled out her mini Washu-thermos (he couldn't think of any other special name to give to the contraption) from her left pocket, she positioned it on top of her head and pushed the red button, tilting her head back so that the warm water would splash only her face.

In the course of a second her entire body morphed, the clothes that were previously loose now fitted perfectly well, Ranma's chest swelled down and now had a masculine bishounen face. The soft, shiny hair from his girl form was now a follicle of thick and rough hair, giving him a rugged and handsome look.

Takayama nodded his head with an appreciative look. Jackson on the other hand had eyes that were as wide as saucers and a brain that seemed to be jammed in neutral from the overload of what he just saw.

"Sugoi, sugoi! I've never seen you actually transform in front of me before, it's quite an amazing feat to see!" Takayama said excitedly.

Ranma wiped the excess water off his face, he rubbed his eyes and faced his superior officer. "I've had it happen so many times, sometimes I forget whether I'm in girl form or boy form," Ranma said.

A few feet away from them was a flabbergasted Jackson, his brain finally shifted out of neutral but it seemed now to be parked in reverse. "Who-wha-when...how the hell did you change from a girl to a boy!?" Jackson stuttered.

The now male Ranma gave a grin. "It's a curse. I'll explain it to you later."

The elder Takayama had a huge grin plastered on his face, he leaned over to Jackson and whispered something lengthy in his ear. The young man's face dawned comprehension, although his eyes still seemed a bit weary.

Jackson narrowed his eyes and fixed Ranma with a stare. "So, it was true. You do have some kind of magical or spiritual power that allows you to change genders."

Ranma ignored Jackson's glare, turning to face Takayama. "So, where'd he come from?"

"He's one of the twenty two other MaxFor agents in this country, he's been working for us for about four months before you came. Unfortunately you're one of only three agents who have any investigative experience and Jackson has none," Takayama replied. Jackson seemed to scowl a little at the last comment. "The other two are barely adequate at it, not to mention they're both on the opposite ends of Japan. So you're the only capable agent I can depend on."

"So, what's his background?" Ranma queried.

"His parents are Japanese and he was born here, but the entire family moved to France while he was still young. He went into the French Army after applying for citizenship, eventually making his way into their top counter-terrorism unit, the GIGN. He can speak English, French, and Japanese very fluently, we recruited him the same way we recruited you, and offered him Japanese citizenship," Takayama finished.

"Is that so?" Ranma nodded. He turned to face Jackson. "Do you know anything about me?" he asked.

Jackson nodded haughtily. "Yeah, you're the hot-shot detective from the Los Angeles Police Department over in the U.S., and some sort of martial artist," he said. He narrowed his eyes. "You're the second in command of MaxFor after Commander Takayama?" Jackson asked incredulously. He couldn't believe this pigtailed guy who was only a year or so older than him was one of the most authoritative figures in Japan.

"You know," Ranma sighed, "I know what you're trying to do, and I don't like it, so just shove it, capisce?" Ranma replied back with one of his eyebrows raised. "I know you think I'm some low-down, dinky, donut eating flatfoot who got a lucky break just cause he's a nip detective in America, okay? You and your pansy little French GIGN ass can just suck it. I bet you've never even seen a second of real combat in your entire service period."

The taller ex-French commando buckled slightly under Ranma's overwhelming glare, he felt his knees weaken a little but his pride didn't fall back. "Don't talk to me like that you piece of shit! I'll take you on like a rag doll!"

Takayama merely watched in the background, sighing to himself. "I'll be in my office boys!" Takayama said. He walked away leaving the two to themselves.

Ranma nodded, then stepped back gracefully as a powerful but uncoordinated punch was swung across by the opposing entity.

"Heh! That's a lot of hot air there don't you think? Are you sure you can take me on like rag doll?" Ranma scoffed. "Come on, gimme your best shot."

Jackson executed a fairly good sweep kick followed by a roundhouse kick, swinging and shooting his arms out so he could grab Ranma in an offensive body throw. "Don't worry, I'm just getting warmed up!"

"Oh?" Ranma started shuffling his feet like a boxer, bouncing himself left and right, almost dancing. "You're wasting your time with all this fancy footwork, and you still haven't touched me."

"Hmph, is that all you are? A boxer?" Jackson charged Ranma with a powerful forward punch driving in all his strength.

Ranma smirked, pouncing forward like a cheetah, his right arm extended and horizontal. His forearm knocked Jackson smack dab on the face, making him fall backwards and hard on the floor. Ranma immediately hopped backwards right next to Jackson's downed body and jabbed his fist at Jackson's throat. Jackson croaked loudly, the muscles in his diaphragm contracting in shocked surprise by the painful blow. He rolled around for a few minutes, croaking in agonizing pain.

"Don't be such a drama queen you little baby, I pulled that punch so that you wouldn't even get bruised. You should really learn how to fight before you even think about being my partner. I'm gonna have to toughen you up," Ranma said disgustedly.

Jackson eventually got to his feet, his shoulders slumping in defeat. There was no way he could get Saotome back, at least for now.

"Come on, let's get to the commander," Ranma suggested.

One walked and one limped over swiftly to a large office that was in a corner of the floor, adjacent to the armory. Inside was a large luxurious office, lined with soundproof walls and surrounded by heavily tinted windows.

Takayama gestured the two to a seat in front of his desk. "Get over here you two, I hope you're done fuckin' around."

"Hai," both replied crisply.

The elder agent nodded, he pulled open a drawer and threw out a case folder across the desk for Ranma and Jackson.

"I've called you over here for two things, Saotome," Takayama said. He leaned back in his large chair. "First of all, I've gotten wind of the case you're working on over at Okayama. I'm pretty sure they're giving you their full cooperation, no?"

"Yes sir," Ranma replied.

"Good," Takayama nodded. "In your daily report that you turned in this afternoon you mentioned that there's evidence of firearms circulating around, and there is a plausible reason to believe that there is a professional cleaner somewhere on the loose. This has raised a few eyebrows over in our bureau as well as the Japanese Defense Agency. You know who those pricks are right Saotome?"

Ranma didn't understand where he was going with this. "I actually don't know too much sir, all I know is that they are the only military capable force we have in Japan."

Takayama opened up the folder on the desk and laid out each document for both Jackson and Ranma to see. "What troubled us is the fact that you found .380 rounds that were used on another person to end his life. Also contributing to that is the fact that heavy narcotics are involved. The rounds that were used in the .380 match that of the ones used by some old police precincts in the country. I've already contacted the Japanese National Police HQ, I've forced the case over to our bureau so now it's a national security matter."

"I'm already investigating the case sir, I have a homicide detective in Okayama helping me out," Ranma stated. But something tugged at his mind. "But why is it a national security matter, sir?"

Jackson sat by on the sidelines trying to follow the conversation; only problem was he didn't know what the fuck they were talking about.

Takayama put his hands up and nodded. "I know, I was pretty sure you were already on it. I'm just saying that along with this case I need you to carry out a couple of night assignments. Some reconnaissance, if you will. We need to take care of a few weeds and sneak out a little intel. The national security part you don't have to worry about for now."

Ranma raised an eyebrow. "What do you want me to do?" he asked suspiciously.

"You should be familiar with this." Takayama pulled out three documents from a drawer, each profiling a different person. "These three goons are heavily affiliated with a Yakuza ring controlling several prefectures in the greater Tokyo area. We don't have actual hard evidence, but enough to know that they're running a heavy load of drugs, more so in the past month, and they're making a fucking killing in profits off the streets. It extends even to Nerima, in case you were wondering."

This definitely got Ranma's attention.

"These two bastards here," Takayama pointed out, "are drug lieutenants and info couriers for their crew boss. The third guy however is a top notch bloodsucking, son of a bitch lawyer. They're all bad guys pretty much, we've caught them doin' things they shouldn't be doing, and we need to sacrifice them for key reasons. Doing this will trigger some activity within this particular Yakuza family and we'll be able to investigate further as they operate. JDA Internal Affairs and the NSA believe that they're financing some kind of weapons operation, possibly firearms, by some unknown faction that we have yet to hear from."

Ranma nodded. "Alright, how do you want me to whack 'em?" His voice showed no questioning or hesitation to his own cruel words.

Jackson's eyes bulged slightly, but the other two didn't notice.

"I really don't give a shit actually, you can do whatever you want. But the trick is, I want you to assassinate them in a way so that this Yakuza faction will think it's a rival gang, or something like that," Takayama shrugged. "And as for the lawyer, he should be carrying a suitcase of confidential files that'll help us determine how they're financing their dope. So remember to get that."

The pigtailed boy cautiously read over the files. "Let's see, both these assholes have outstanding criminal records, the lawyer has been suspected numerous times of bribery and illegitimate activity..." He nodded and gave Takayama a look of approval. "I'd say these guys are scumbags. Triangulate where they are and I'll take them out tonight."

Jackson's face turned a shade whiter, but the other two still didn't notice.

The commander gathered up the documents and stuffed them back into the folder, handing them to Ranma. He gave him a nod and looked over to Jackson with a small frown. "What's wrong, Sergeant? Looks like you've seen a ghost son."

"Huh?" Jackson shook himself out of his reverie. "It was nothing sir, I was just pondering something that's all."

"Yeah, yeah. Whatever, let's get out of here shall we?" Ranma signaled over. He looked back to his superior. "I need to pick up a couple more guns from the armory Takayama-san, is that fine with you?"

"Sure," Takayama replied. "Just make sure you sign them out."

"Hai."

The pigtailed boy opened the door and proceeded to walk out, with Jackson right behind him.

"Oh yeah, Captain, by the way?" Ranma looked behind to see his boss with an evil grin. "Make sure you kill them real messy. The sloppier the better. Those Yakuza bastards can't tell a rifle bullet from a pistol round, so use whatever you want."

"Uh..." Ranma stammered a little. "Sure, if you want I guess."

Ranma walked out and shut the door behind him, Jackson overheard the commander and his face was starting to get a little sweaty with anxiety. Ranma didn't really notice, he was headed straight for the armory. The armory was as huge and impressive as Ranma remembered it from a couple of weeks ago when he first came here. Except this time he had to answer to a person behind a counter.

"Can I get some help here?" Ranma asked.

A young lady in a light blue officer's uniform looked up from the manga she was reading. "What can I help you with Captain?"

This seemed a little awkward, it wasn't like going to a grocery store and asking for a slice of porterhouse. "Anou... I need some guns I guess."

"What is it you would like?" she politely asked.

Ranma looked over to Jackson, who was patiently waiting for Ranma. "Yo Sarge, you go first actually."

Jackson nodded and stepped forward. "I'll need an IMI* Desert Eagle .50 AE pistol, a Walther PPK chambered in 7.65mm, an M60 with a box mag conversion, and an MP5SD A2 fitted with nightvision, infrared, dual laser sighting, digital zooming, pressure plate flashlight, and a heat sinker on the barrel. All of them with 2 spare clips each," he said boastingly.

Ranma sweatdropped heavily in the background, his jaw dropped and his face turned into a frown. What the hell was up with this fucking cherry? His choice of weaponry was very amateurish and unsuited for their particular line of work.

"What kind of ammo would you like outfitted for your firearms sir?" the young lady asked.

The sergeant frowned. "What? Just give me rounds that fit the calibers of the guns I told you."

"I know that sir, but what kind of ammunition would you like chambered in them?" she asked again.

"You know, the regular ones, the ones that shoot out with loud noises," Jackson said, confused and frustrated. The young girl behind the counter stifled a sigh as well.

Ranma intervened. "Just give him some full metal jacket rounds for the 7.62 hog and the strongest hollowpoints you have for the rest."

"Hai!" she chirped, relieved. "Are you ready with your order sir?"

"I need a Ruger MK-II .22 with an integrated suppressed barrel and with tritium night sights. I don't need any spare clips." Yeah, he could just get a mod job by Washu. "And load it up with aluminum jacketed tipped rounds, something that won't cause too much penetration but doesn't deform. You have something like that?"

"I'm pretty sure our gunsmiths can accommodate you Captain," she said. She tapped on her keyboard and pointed both men out. "I'll have these delivered to you immediately to your car sirs. Thank you!"

The two headed out and hitched a ride on the elevator, going down to the garage. Jackson frowned at Ranma, looking down at him. "You picked out a wimpy little pea shooter? What the hell for? Do you carry anything else?"

Ranma lifted up part of his shirt to reveal his mundane police issue Beretta neatly packed in a tan leather holster right at his hip. "We're peace officers, not commandos. I don't need a cowboy's arsenal to fuck me up around here. Personally I think you went overboard with a couple of those guns you picked. Remember we're in Japan, not a war zone. What the hell are you going to do with all those extra accessories on your SMG* if you can't even use your own eyes?"

*SMG - Submachine Gun

"Shows how little you know," he snottily replied.

"You're gonna regret it, I'm telling you now. And as for why I chose a tiny peashooter? Let's just say they're really handy in some situations," Ranma replied. He didn't want to waste his time bickering with this knucklehead. "By the way, you never did answer me. Have you ever experienced any real combat yet?"

Jackson hesitated for a moment, and then continued walking. "Uh, yeah. Of course! I've seen plenty while I was with the GIGN. Way more than even you I bet!"

"Really?" Ranma looked at him incredulously. "I hope you're telling me the truth. I don't want you to become a liability if you hesitate in the field."

"I'm telling the truth here," Jackson cautiously said. He silently gulped; his pride was getting the best of him.

"When Takayama contacts us for the hit, I'll come pick you up from wherever the hell you are and we'll go together, understood?" Ranma told him.

"I got it maestro."

Ranma sighed as his cocky newfound partner walked to his car. "You fuckin' prick," he muttered under his breath.

***

April 19th, 2001.

Nekohanten - Nerima District - Tokyo, Japan. 8:02 PM.

"Hmm...so the first battle of the American Revolution was in Lexington, and the Civil War ended in 1965 at Appomattox, the US entered into Somalia in 1993..."

A blue haired girl was sitting in an empty table in the corner of the large Chinese restaurant, doing the homework that was assigned to her from the local community college. She put the pencil she was holding against her lips, it didn't make much sense to her as to why she had to learn the history of a country she had no interest in.

"Shampoo, where did you put the ginger?" a male voice from inside the kitchen asked.

The beautiful Amazon put her pencil down, brushing a hand through her silky lavender hair.

"I think I put the ginger in the far right cabinet at the bottom," she replied in almost perfect Japanese.

"Oh, I see where it is. Thanks, Shampoo."

Shampoo scratched a side of her head and closed the American history book she was studying for a test that would be tomorrow. She pulled out her Japanese grammar textbook out of the book bag she had next to her and flipped it open to study it next.

A longhaired and well-built Amazon boy walked out of the hallway of the kitchen, strolling his way over to where Shampoo was. There weren't any people in the restaurant tonight, except for one lone person who was eating dinner by himself.

Shampoo looked up to see him sitting down across from her, he was wiping his hands off with a towel after cooking all day.

"Are you ready for these exams tomorrow, Mousse?" she asked.

"I need to review some areas myself," he said, smiling. It still amazed him how a little bit of educating corrected Shampoo's ridiculously impaired spoken Japanese.

After Ranma had disappeared four years ago off the face of the planet, with his parents not telling anyone anything, Shampoo had no fiancée to chase after or rival acquaintances to quarrel with. The three years that Ranma had spent overseas for college was excused by their elder Amazon matriarch Cologne, she believed it was important that Ranma received a good education to train his mind and not just his body. He didn't need any distractions to throw him off.

So therefore Mousse and Shampoo were perplexed as to what they were supposed to do. Shampoo had no one to chase and Mousse had no one to fight off. Oh sure, the others in Nerima had the same problem, but they at least were going to school or doing something for their future.

But in reality, the truth was that Shampoo and her grandmother simply could not afford to travel all the way to the US in a fruitless attempt to search for someone in a land that spans over 3000 miles wide. Cologne had plenty of access to money from the Amazon homeland, but it would probably have been wasted.

Thus the reason for Shampoo and Mousse's enrollment in a community college. They weren't capable of applying to a high-end college such as Tokyo U, they had to study rigorously for the community college alone, and they left it at that. Cologne had no problem whatsoever to either of them expanding their intelligence, she was already busy herself running the Cat Café, handling Nyuuchiezuu matters from overseas, and giving a moderate effort in trying to find Ranma, wherever the hell he was. Because Mousse and Shampoo had to run the Nekohanten while going to school, their schedule was compromised, and it forced them to take years of college. But in the past couple of weeks, now that Ranma was back in Japan, Cologne was spending a lot of time to herself trying to find any info that she could about Ranma.

But this was none of their concern, at least for now, Shampoo and Mousse had to study.

"So, how far did you get?" Mousse asked.

"Not much, but I think I got the history down and I have to study just a bit of the grammar," she said. It took some effort to talk well, and most of the times she could have a normal conversation with a native Japanese person without being mocked. However, sometimes when she was excited or panicked her grammar broke and she reverted back to her old clumsy style of talking in the third person.

"So are you confident about everything?" he asked. He took off his glasses and rubbed his tired eyes while trying to read the history book Shampoo was using before.

"I guess," she lamely replied. She blew away a stray strand of hair that was on her lips.

Mousse looked a little concerned, Shampoo seemed to be more tense than usual, even if there was a test the next day. "Is there something wrong? You look uneasy about something."

The usually perky Amazon was slouching a little; she blinked a couple of times, the strain on her eyes apparent. "I was thinking about Ranma, and about all of us," she replied to Mousse. The blind eyed Amazon boy had stopped pestering her a long time ago, they actually became even closer as friends while Ranma was gone, although not much had progressed on the romantic side.

"What were you thinking about?" Mousse asked in Chinese. These sorts of conversations required some complex talking that they just couldn't achieve with their Japanese.

Shampoo looked straight at him with a serious face, leaning against the table with her arms crossed in front of her bosom. "I was thinking about the incident at Ukyo's restaurant with Ranma challenging great grandmother like that," she said in Chinese. "I just can't shrug off this odd feeling that something bad will happen as time goes by. Just look at him, my perspective of him has changed a lot; I never thought he would go against her like he did. Threatening to kill someone so brutally is something the Ranma I know would never do."

Mousse frowned; obviously she had also pondered the situation at hand as he had. Ranma's violent and vicious behavior towards Ryoga and Cologne were something completely out of this world. "Your grandmother has been fueled by either rage or vengeance since that day, she's been trying to get information about his life overseas ever since." Cologne was either trying to find out a way to kill Ranma or get him to marry Shampoo by analyzing him. Either conclusion was something Mousse did not want to happen.

"Her interest in him is growing again," she simply said. "Weird how things always seem to turn back into the way it was."

"Still... for a guy like him coming back after years and years... he probably has a bitter feeling towards us," Mousse pondered.

Shampoo snapped her finger. "I know! Let's set up a welcome party for him! Something to make him feel welcome! I bet he'd love it."

"Eh? What?" Mousse said hesitantly. "I don't know Shampoo-"

"Don't worry about it you stupid duck, I'll find out a way," Shampoo scolded.

Trying to conceal the frown on his face, Mousse walked back in the kitchen nodding his head in defeat.

***

April 20th, 2001.

Daihatsu Corp. Factory Plant #6 – Yokohama, Japan. 12:06 AM.

Gear cogs and broken piles of steel pipes littered the floors of the abandoned warehouse, reflecting what once used to be an area where people flourished in their work areas, creating motors and other automotive mechanical parts for cars and bikes. But with different economic fluctuations and changing times, this old Daihatsu factory faced it's end years ago, with the owners unable to salvage anything.

It was a dark and abandoned area near the harbor and kilometers away from the closest town. Perfect for secret activities.

"Shinji, I think that's the box. Go check it."

Two men followed by a small horde of others navigated their way around the trenches of steel, they all wore regular street clothes, and all were regular thugs, the kind you see on the streets.

The two men were higher level Yakuza operatives, the family they worked for entrusted them to do tasks that required high risk.

"I found it Heero. Give me that crowbar."

Heero ordered his men to stay put, while he went to Shinji to hand him the crowbar. "This is it, it's our payday."

The young men cracked open a large and dusty wooden box that was placed underneath a pile of rubble, it was specifically placed to make it look as if it were from the factory. The top splintered, allowing a cleverly built in seal to be broken apart, allowing the sides of the box to neatly fall back in place.

"Hol~y shit," Shinji said, breaking out a huge grin.

"That bitch actually delivered," Heero added.

The other men were giving their own "oohs" and "ahhs" as well, it was an impressive cache of weapons that was stored in there. A bundle of brand new M 16A2 assault rifles, five used M 60 machine guns that were abandoned by the US Army, and twenty HK USP .45 Tactical pistols, which were on top of boxes and boxes filled with ammunition.

The two Yakuza operatives gawked in awe at the awesome firepower, an impulsive urge to use them growing within them. But before that, they had an important phone call to make first.

After fumbling for a couple of minutes for a phone number, the call finally went through, handled by Heero.

YAWN. "Hai, hai. Who is it?" a tired voice asked.

"Daihatsu corporation, volatile materials division."

She immediately woke up on the other end after hearing the code words. "Yes, this is JDA Agent Nabiki Tendo."

"We've received the shipment, it looks like everything is in place."

"Ah," Nabiki smiled, pleased with herself. "You need instructions for the rest of the shipments, yes?"

"Yes we do," Heero replied. "How many more are there?"

"Two. One again tomorrow, and the other one I have yet to set up."

"How big is tomorrow's shipment, and where do I pick it up?" Heero asked.

Nabiki chuckled, "Same time, same exact place. Oh, and you'll need a lot more men than what you probably brought now, since the shipment will be around ten times bigger than what you received tonight."

An evil smile crept onto Heero's face. "I'll be looking forward to it Tendo. As soon as tomorrow's shipment is in, we'll deliver your full payment as the contract promised. Good night."

"Oyasumi."

***

April 20th, 2001.

Some crack lab house – Juuban District – Tokyo, Japan. 12:07 AM.

Tonki and Ghiro walked out of their little crack factory in one of the many slums in Tokyo, it was a sleazy place turned bad because of drug dealers liked them. They carried their duffel bags full of heroin and cocaine in small pouches.

Once again tonight they were determined to sell it all off, making a killing off of teenagers and young men and women alike at popular hangouts and night clubs.

These two were the roots of the many chains their Yakuza family controlled, it was a large source of monetary funds, gained quick and easy. They kept two percent of whatever they made every night, the rest were turned up the hierarchy of the Yakuza family they worked for. Being the prime drug lieutenants in the area, the ones who knew them feared them, for they were ruthless and merciless to whoever disturbed them. That included another Yakuza faction which was nearby, they constantly tangled with each other, but neither side really went in for the real kill. Their crew boss had warned them repeatedly that one day they would probably have to fight to the death, but these two arrogant young men didn't really care.

Ghiro pulled out the keys to the 1995 BMW 740iL that was parked on the curb, it was bought from the blood money him and his partner conjured up from unsuspecting college and high school students.

Tonki settled himself into the soft leather passenger seat of the Beamer, closing the door with him. "I sure could use a blowjob after we're done with tonight."

"We'll stop by one of those cat houses before we head back home then," Ghiro snorted, climbing into the driver's seat.

As soon as he started up the engine, he snapped in his seatbelt, and reached for the steering column to turn on the headlights.

When he saw the light brightly illuminating the cluster of bushes in front of him, the last thing he saw was the glass of his windshield cracking at his chest level.

A barrage of silent gunfire violently smashed into the old BMW, the trajectory of the bullets were mainly aimed at the windshield where the passengers were.

Ghiro and Tonki's bodies danced wildly in the seats as their bodies were repeatedly riddled by high velocity firepower, the seatbelts keeping them in place. The whizzing of bullets at supersonic speeds echoed eerily in the misty night, several rounds which were randomly sprayed exploded on the concrete walls of the adjacent buildings. Most were projected on the car itself, making an awful sound of twisting and tinkering metal and shattering glass.

After ten seconds of full on automatic fire, a small red laser dot illuminated itself on Ghiro's forehead, a moment after a single round broke out, smashing in a large one inch entry cavity and blowing out a large mass of brain matter and blood into the back seats and windows.

The same happened for Tonki's corpse.

The two cadavers bled freely inside of the vehicle, for there was no brain activity in their heads to keep their muscles from contracting around the bullet wounds. Tonki's head shot wasn't as precise as Ghiro's, the bullet hit between his eyes causing his split apart nose to run blood like a faucet due to a torn nasal cavity.

A garbled, tone shifting, alarm tried to ring itself out of the mangled BMW, which was now smoking with riddled bullet holes. Another short burst of automatic fire from nearby put the car out of its misery, putting additional scars on the body panel and popping the tires with a high pitched whiz, while blowing out the headlights at the same time.

---------------

April 20th, 2001.

Behind some bushes near a crackhouse – Tokyo, Japan. 12:03 AM.

"Stop whining and get your ass over here!" Ranma hissed, irritated by his partner's nagging.

"Come on Captain, the Commander must've been kidding, we're not really going to shoot these guys to death are we?" Jackson said nervously. He silently closed one of the passenger doors of Ranma's Mitsubishi wagon and slowly crawled on all fours towards Ranma, who was trying to cut through a small field of vision in the bushes with what seemed to be a glowing object in his hands.

Ranma already had a little mat of carpet for him to sit on while hiding behind the bushes in the dark night. His HK G36 assault rifle was leaning against his back with a sling, attached with a laser sighting module and a large suppressor (a silencer) canister attached at the muzzle.

Jackson was shivering slightly, he tried to convince Ranma that it was really the cold weather that made him jumpy but it was actually the anxiety in his chest. Jackson had his overly large sidearm, the Desert Eagle .50AE, and nothing more. He didn't really believe that they were going to massacre someone.

"They should be out here any second, along with their products," Ranma said, shaking out his hand after using a bit of ki to cut through the bush. He pulled out a small mesh net from a knapsack he had, he hooked it onto the side of the gun where the case ejection port was, creating a little makeshift sack that hung on the right side of the rifle.

Jackson was curious as to what the hell it was, but didn't bother to ask.

Satisfied with the clear line of fire he created, Ranma took his G36 and readjusted his sitting position. With his right leg tucked under in an Indian sitting position and his left leg bent up perpendicular to his right as a bipod allowing him to sit on his ass comfortably, Ranma balanced the rifle using his left elbow on his left knee.

It was a standard field sniper stance, one that was also suitable for precision mid range rifle attacks or quick acquisition short range assault rifle attacks. It was handy for situations where there was nothing to lean or rest the rifle on.

Since he needed a lot of maneuverability, Ranma held the rifle conventionally with one hand on the trigger and another on the fore stock.

"For crying out loud, I can't believe the only thing you brought was a pistol, Jackson. What kind of special forces guy are you?" Ranma asked, half irritated, half joking.

Jackson fidgeted sheepishly. "I didn't think we were going to take out a fucking brigade. How was I supposed to know you'd bring an assault rifle?"

Ranma simply shook his head and breathed an exasperated sigh. "Well, make sure it doesn't happen again. Good fortune comes to those who are most prepared," he said sagely.

Jackson frowned. "What the hell does that have to do with anything? And what's with the fishnet on the side of your rifle? It looks like a nut sack."

"Shut up, they're here," Ranma pointed out, ignoring what Jackson said to him.

The two NSA agents saw in their shrouded vision behind the bushes two men emerging from a shoddy looking building complex, one that was slightly isolated from the other complexes on the peculiarly empty street.

"That's them all right," Ranma said. He remembered those two faces from the photos Takayama gave. "We'll make it look like an ambush."

He readjusted his grip one last time and lifted the rifle to aim, the shrubbery kept both men well camouflaged and virtually impossible to see. Ranma's breathing gradually slowed after a few deep breaths, his fingers and his eyes completely still and never twitching.

Jackson felt himself getting excited, the blood was rushing through his ears and to his head and he could feel the adrenaline rising in his body. He'd done countless training sessions and scenarios for the French government, but this was the first time he was in a real situation.

The two men from across the deserted street finally entered their fancy European sports sedan, slamming the doors shut. The driver on the right side seemed to fiddle with his keys, having trouble turning the engine on. Right then the headlights flooded the bushes.

As soon as the bright bluish white xenon lights came in view Ranma gently held his breath, squinting his left eye slightly from the bright light and looking through the integrated anti-glare 1.5x zoom optical sight of the G36 rifle with his right. With a positive squeeze to the trigger the assault rifle shot off full blast, the heavily modified gun from Washu gave nary a recoil, the silencer muffled every controlled explosion to a refined whistling of air while at the same time hiding every trace of a muzzle flash. The aforementioned mesh net that was neatly hooked to the right side of the rifle safely caught every spent casing of ammunition that was ejected from the gun, emitting a light clank-clank-clank at a furious 700 RPM pace.

In the cold night, the only evidence of the firearm being discharged were the long and continuous puffs of steam that was precipitated from the hot air being discharged from both the muzzle and the special gas exhaust of this particular rifle.

Ranma concentrated an even spray of hot lead on the car and the adjacent building, making sure it looked like a frenzied massacre. After nearly ten full seconds of automatic rifle fire he stopped. Thanks to the special magazine given by Washu, Ranma had shot off 116 rounds from a magazine designed for only 30.

The pigtailed boy didn't lower his aim, however. Instead he clipped a lever near the trigger with his thumb switching the action to semi-auto fire, and he activated a pressure plate at the top of the rifle handle near the optical sights, activating a hi-power laser.

A red dot brightly illuminated the forehead of the dead and bloody driver, without a second thought Ranma squeezed the trigger. He quickly shifted a couple degrees right and shot the passenger in the head, although not as clean as the first one.

Jackson was crouched next Ranma with his teeth clenched and his fists tightly packed near his chest. He watched in horror and fascination as the man next to him tore apart two people who were absolute strangers to them, and he was doing so in a manner that showed no remorse.

Ranma quickly stood up and jumped over the bushes. "Come on Jackson, get over here!"

Jackson numbly jumped up and followed Ranma who was dashing his way over to his car with his rifle in low-ready tactical position. By instinct Jackson took out his own sidearm, trailing Ranma close by with his pistol raised in a Weaver* stance. What he saw next made his stomach leap to his throat.

Carnage. It was carnage neatly packed in a steel can. Blood here, blood there. Chunks of unknown red and white stuck on the upholstery.

It was too much.

"Oh fuck! Oh man!" Jackson panicked.

"Shut the hell up, we're not done yet!" Ranma yelled at him. They were short on time, they had to do this and do it right before anybody noticed either of them.

Jackson breathed heavily and cringed his eyes. "Oh, fucking shit man! This is sick!"

Ranma smacked him on the back of the head. "Don't act like you've never seen a dead body before!" He pointed to Jackson's huge pistol. "Since you have a big bore handgun, I want you to shoot them close range, wherever you want. We need to make it messier and make it look as if there were many people here."

"Wha-?" he looked up at Ranma in confusion and frustration. "I ain't fucking doin' it man! No way!"

His suspicions were answered; Ranma narrowed his eyes giving Jackson a dangerous look. He slung his own rifle across his back, the net full of casings clanking along with it. Ranma wordlessly snatched Jackson's large .50 caliber pistol out of his hand and aimed it through an open window in the car. He brutally shot both corpses repeatedly until the seven round magazine of the pistol was depleted. This time with no silencer, the gunshots rang out loudly in the night. Jackson watched in awe and frozen terror as he watched the chunks fly.

As soon as he was done Ranma held his rifle and took off the net full of spent cases. He opened it up and ran around dropping the cases everywhere and even threw some near potential ambush spots. He pocketed the net and clicked the slide of the Desert Eagle back into place with the empty magazine and shoved the gun back into Jackson's hand, giving him a mad and burning look in his eyes.

"I..."

"Shut up, Jackson. Just shut it. We don't have much time, the people around here are gonna flock here like locusts. We still have one more of these fuckers to kill. And don't you ever lie to me again. MOVE your ass."

Jackson meekly responded. "Yes, sir."

---------------

April 20th, 2001.

Keila's Bar and Karaoke – Bokutou District – Tokyo, Japan. 12:45 AM.

A sleazy, middle-aged man stumbled out of the double-decker doors of the popular bar and karaoke which was located on a street full of other similar bars. They were all thinly disguised whorehouses, attracting salary men and other easily impressionable young and wealthy men who wanted to satisfy their perverted desires by taking advantage of underage and exploited girls. The use of minors in sexual acts was still a problem in some areas of Japan, despite the Clinton Administration's efforts to pressure the Japanese government to fix it in the past.

The mid aged man was a lawyer, a bloodsucker for the Yakuza family he worked for, with his expensive black suit and his Florsheim Italian shoes. He was currently busy zipping his pants back up after having sex with a young 16 year old girl who was trying to earn money to pay for her crack addiction. His liberal use of alcohol impaired his vision and his ability to walk to his car which was parked on the curb.

The street was lit with signs from the buildings advertising drinks and entertainment. There were no other people walking around, it was far too early in the night to go home already.

From an alley a couple meters away, two men peeked around a corner to see their target coming towards them. They were lucky to have good intel to be able to find this guy at the right time.

"Okay, Jackson. You stay here and cover me while I'll go over there and shoot him. I want you to stay put, and don't do anything unless you think it's absolutely necessary. Is that understood?" Ranma said.

Jackson nodded. "Yes, sir." It was his chance to redeem himself, to make him look like a professional when the situation came for it. He no longer doubted Saotome's skill and experience. The pigtailed boy who was nearly the same age as him put chills in his spine.

Ranma had a gray sweater with a hood on, he slowly jogged out of the alley towards the target with both his hands in the large sweater pocket. He had his new Ruger .22 in his right hand, along with a roll of duct tape in his left.

The drunken lawyer didn't really notice Ranma jogging towards him, he just assumed it was some idiot getting some exercise in the middle of the night. Just as Ranma passed the lawyer he stopped and turned around. Ranma pulled out his silenced pistol and walked behind the lawyer with the gun raised.

Just as the lawyer pulled out his car keys, Ranma squeezed the light single action only trigger aiming behind the left ear at point blank range. The silenced .22 emitted a solid and audible ka-thunk sound (it wasn't modded by Washu yet), along with a light cloud of smoke that rushed its way out of the ejection port and muzzle. The sound of the ejected casing falling on the ground finished off this neat and tidy execution.

The lawyer trembled abruptly with only the sound of "Erk" escaping his lips. His body fell dead on the ground, Ranma could see an abnormal pea sized dent in the forehead which signified that the low power .22 round had not penetrated out but instead bounced around in the cranium, making it just as lethal as a big bore round. The entry wound was small and precise, the surrounding hair and flesh around the ear was sizzled by the instantaneous muzzle flash of Ranma's pistol.

Ranma pocketed his gun and pulled out the duct tape without any delay as soon as he gave off the shot. The entry wound although small was still in the head, and it was pumping out blood already as soon as the body had hit the ground. Ranma hastily sealed up the small hole the best he could with a small patch of duct tape, he needed to drag the body around the alley to where Jackson was.

This time Jackson ran up to Ranma and helped him drag the body. "Jesus, you gotta tell me some stories about your previous life man."

"Don't worry about the body, you go get the keys on the ground and try to find this guy's car. If you find a briefcase or a bag or anything bring it," Ranma said.

Jackson obeyed him and picked up the keys. He pressed the unlock and lock buttons repeatedly on the remote fob to see which car it belonged to. He saw a white Nissan Fairlady with blinking lights near the alley he was hiding in.

Ranma in the meanwhile had already dragged the body into the alley. He ripped off the duct tape from the man's ear letting the blood flow all over the floor. Ranma took out a switchblade from one of his pockets and flipped it open. He grimaced slightly for what he was going to do next.

He took a deep breath, then violently grabbed a hold of the corpse and slit the throat wide open from ear to ear. Next he eviscerated the stomach, a horrible stench churned its way out causing Ranma to wince. He took out two steel stakes from a small pouch that Takayama had given him along with a sledgehammer. With each hand Ranma drove a stake right through the wrists against the brick alley wall, making a crude crucifix. The Commander had specifically told him to do this to rile up the proper emotions in the Yakuza they were targeting.

Ranma backed off from the cadaver before the pool of blood touched his shoes. He pulled out his thermos and washed off the red stained switchblade with warm water.

Jackson came back running at Ranma with a briefcase. "I got it, Captain. Are you done here...Holy shit!"

"Shut up, Sergeant. Let's get out of here," Ranma signaled. He noticed the briefcase. "Did you remember to not leave any fingerprints?"

"Yeah," he said, gulping. He felt his stomach getting weaker again.

"Good, we're done then. Let's get outta here."

Jackson watched as he wondered at how his newfound partner could be so coldhearted and callous.

***

April 20th, 2001.

Harako Street Park – Bokutou District – Tokyo, Japan. 12:59 AM.

"License and registration please."

"Gimme a break, girl. I didn't do nothing!" whined the coy looking man in the driver's seat.

Officer Miyuki Kobayakawa wouldn't take any of it. "Please, sir. You were driving recklessly even though there's no one around. You deserve this ticket."

"Give 'em hell, Miyuki!" laughed her partner Natsumi Tsujimoto. She was munching on a bagel sandwich in their patrol car.

There were five men packed in the compact Toyota Progres sedan, all in expensive looking suits and expensive accessories. They weren't expecting any police officers to be on duty around this area. Apparently they were wrong.

But it wasn't like these officers were too much trouble anyway. Just one lousy ticket and they would be home free.

"Come on honey, just let us go and we can all have a peaceful night," one of the passengers said. He sneered at the attractive policewoman.

From the other side of the street near the intersection, one pigtailed man and another guy who seemed to be sweating bullets waited at the red light in their Mitsubishi Legnum VR-4.

"It's a long night, I gotta get some sleep."

Jackson seemed to be thinking hard, for the first time in years he started to regret ever entering a profession that involved killing others. While the greater benefit was to help and save people, it appeared that killing was an unavoidable aspect of the job.

Ranma took a look at his partner, who seemed to be sulking to himself in his eyes. Ranma gave him a pat on the shoulder. "Don't worry about tonight Jackson, it happens to everybody. I'm sorry I got mad at you. It wasn't because you hesitated in the field, it was the fact that you lied to me about your experience. If you had told me the truth, I could've taught you some valuable lessons tonight. So just forget about it for now and let's head home, ok?" Ranma tried offering words of comfort.

His partner gave a weak smile and nodded. Jackson finally gave in to the fact that this guy next to him, who was the same age, was a much better operative than he was. There was no substitution for real experience. "Thanks, Captain. I'm sorry I was a jerk to you when we first met. I guess I made the wrong impression."

"That's fine," Ranma said smiling.

Jackson nodded again and looked up, seeing the traffic cop from across the street writing up a ticket. He peered his eyes to get a closer look at the driver who was getting the ticket. "Oh shit. I know who that is!"

"Eh? What?" Ranma said puzzled. He looked up and the light was green, but he paused to hear what Jackson had to say.

"That driver!" Jackson pointed out. "I recognize him from our case file! He's one of the known accomplices for the Yakuza faction we're tracking. His picture was in the supplement file Commander Takayama gave us!"

"You're shittin' me," Ranma said, his eyebrow raised. He reached back in the backseat and opened up a manila folder and scanned through some pictures. "Well I'll be damned, you're right," he said, amazed. He closed the folder and threw it back. "Let's go check it out."

Ranma turned on the internal code 3 lights in his vehicle and drove over to the small patrol car across the intersection. He blipped the siren a couple of times to get the attention of the two patrolwomen.

Natsumi stepped out of her car with a suspicious frown on her face. "What the hell is this?" she mumbled.

"Oh great, you pathetic pigs had to call in backup for this?" scoffed the driver in the Toyota. His friends laughed along with him.

Miyuki walked towards the station wagon, puzzled as to who these two men were. "May I ask who you two gentlemen are? This is official police business."

Ranma stepped out of the car, tugging his sweater down so that his strongside holster wouldn't show. "Good evening officers. I'm Detective Sakamichi and that's Detective Li over there," Ranma lied. "We're HQ officers, we just wanted to help you two out."

"We don't need any help, this is a routine traffic stop," Natsumi said. She didn't like these two. Her danger sense was going rampant.

"We're not here to intrude, we'd just like to ask those men in the car a couple of questions, that's all," Ranma tried delegating. Years of living with Akane in the past gave Ranma an uncanny sense for detecting angry women.

The feisty short haired brunette was about to argue with them some more but her partner grabbed her shoulder. "Let's just let them do what they want to do," Miyuki whispered. "It's still our collar, if they try to arrest them we'll take control, okay?"

Natsumi calmed down and nodded her head. She'd let them go for now. If they tried anything funny...

Ranma walked over to the driver's side of the Toyota, looking inside through the window. "How are you guys doing, having fun tonight, hmm?"

"What's it to you?" the driver said arrogantly.

Ranma took a good look at every passenger. They appeared to be in their late twenties, maybe mid twenties, all with clothes that were far too expensive for some of them to be wearing. Armani and $2400 Bally Italian leather jackets were something that definitely caught his eye, along with the expensive Rolexes.

Natsumi narrowed her eyes against Ranma, he was actually pretty cute for a guy around here but he didn't look like a detective at all. Wearing a hooded sweater made him all the more suspicious. "Do you think these guys are really detectives, Miyuki?" Natsumi whispered.

"I don't know," she replied. "They seem to have an unmarked detective's car, but other than that..."

"I'll be right back, gentlemen," Ranma said. He walked back to his wagon. "Jackson, I want you to take care of those guys up there, I need to use the radio real quick."

"Sure," Jackson said. He walked over to the driver, Miyuki and Natsumi were right behind him.

Ranma sat back in his car and activated the secured satellite phone inside the car. He called the Commander.

BEEP. BEEP. "Moshi, moshi?" A tired voice answered.

Ranma hoped the Commander wouldn't be too upset about him calling in the middle of the night. "Commander? This is Saotome."

"Oh, Saotome," Takayama answered. He shook himself out of his sleepiness. "Are you calling about the assignment?"

"Yes sir, we've already accomplished our primary objectives. We've encountered another situation though. I've located another small group of drug couriers at the northeast corner of Harako Street Park. Jackson recognized one of the men as Ryu Nagoro. He's one of the known drug lieutenants in Tokyo from the file you gave us."

"That's good. Try to arrest them if you can, but I grant you to use force if necessary."

"Yes, sir."

CLICK.

In the meanwhile, unbeknownst to Ranma, Jackson had asked Ryu to open up his trunk to search the vehicle. Ryu nervously agreed, he signaled a couple of his thugs to get out of the car with him. The three law enforcement personnel and Ryu went to the back of the car. Ryu popped the trunk open with his key revealing the contents of what was inside.

The three officers were packed close together in awe of what was inside. There was more crack, weed, and heroin than they had ever seen in their entire lives.

Ryu backed away and surrounded the three officers along with two of his friends, lurking behind them.

At that moment Ranma had clicked off the phone, and he looked up. His eyes widened as he saw the three thugs closing up on the three unsuspecting cops.

It was something he learned from working in the LAPD. It was the most fatal move any cop could make, the kind of mistake inexperienced or careless cops made.

'Oh fuck, you fucking idiot, Jackson!' Ranma thought in his head. "Get the hell out of the kill zone, Jackson!!" screamed Ranma. "GET THE FUCK OUTTA THERE!!!"

One of Ryu's thugs clocked Natsumi right in the back of the head, causing her head to slam into the trunk lid. She screeched in pain but wasn't knocked out.

Ryu tackled Jackson to the ground from behind, catching him completely by surprise and letting him get beaten senseless.

Miyuki was given a chop at the neck, she groaned loudly in pain and fell back, letting her attacker get another punch across the cheek.

Ranma bolted out of the car and sprinted over to where Natsumi was. She was being pummeled badly across the face and in the gut by the merciless thug. Ranma gave a strong power house punch to the side of his ribs, probably shattering all of them and forcing him to let go of the chokehold he was putting on Natsumi. He gave a quick kick to one of his knee caps, cracking it, and grabbed his head and smashed it against one of the pillars of the Toyota. The harsh contact from the nose onto the steel drove the nose to the back of his head.

Ranma swiftly made a roundhouse kick to catch Miyuki's attacker in the back of the neck, the kick was so agile and precise it jolted the thug's spine without breaking it, rendering him motionless.

Next was Ryu, who stopped beating on Jackson and stood up to fly a punch at Ranma. Ranma merely avoided the punch and in one swift fluid motion gave a backhanding punch to the center of his ribs and the neck, causing Ryu to moan in agonizing and disabling pain. Ranma remembered that he had to get these guys in jail instead of exterminating them.

In all this excitement, the remaining backseat thug was cowering in fear while the front seat passenger struggled to pull out his smuggled S&W Model 19 4-inch .357 Magnum revolver. He tried to aim it towards Ranma from the front seat through the back window. With one pull of the trigger there was a loud bang, startling Ranma and the two female officers. Jackson was on the floor moaning in pain with his head slightly disoriented.

The single shot missed Ranma, instead it put a large crack through the window. Ranma immediately pulled out his Beretta from his holster and leaped sideways, getting a clear view of the shooter. He had the gun in a standard double hand dynamic grip and shot away ten rounds through the window and door of the front passenger side of the Toyota, killing the gunman. The remaining thug saw the thick coat of blood on the windshield from his friend's bullet wound in the back of the head, which punched out through the temple. He hastily grabbed the dropped revolver from the dead corpse in front of him and jumped out the car, catching Ranma by surprise. The thug shot off two rounds of .357 Magnum into Ranma's chest, catching him square in the middle.

Ranma's body skidded back from the two powerful shots, groaning loudly in pain. He recovered immediately and saw his shooter running away frantically. Ranma raised his gun and saw the remaining bastard in his sights.

He smoothly squeezed the (now) single action trigger of his Beretta, shooting off four rounds. Three rounds hit the suspect's back, creating a dusty pop-pop-pop in the back of his jacket and one round to the head, creating a fine mist of red in the bright lit street.

Ranma lowered his weapon and with his left hand he painfully scratched at the smoking bullet holes in his chest. He pulled out two deformed slugs that were stopped by the ballistic vest he was wearing underneath.

"Put the fucking gun down now, copper!" yelled a voice from behind.

He slowly shifted his body slightly and turned his head. Ryu wasn't knocked out completely, he now had Officer Miyuki Kobayakawa held by the waste along with a small .38 revolver to her head. Ranma simply gave a sigh.

"I'll fucking kill her! I swear! You put that gun down and I walk, or else this fine piece of ass gets it!" Ryu madly screamed. His dirty hand snaked up her torso and he violently grabbed her breasts and played with them. Miyuki let a cry of anguish, tears were streaming down her cheeks. Her partner and best friend Natsumi stood helplessly at the side, not knowing what to do.

"Do as I say asshole! Put your fucking gun down! I'll fucking kill—"

Like the splatter of a watermelon falling from a high rise building the left hemisphere of Ryu's head exploded out in a messy fashion, a large flaccid patch of scalp hung on the side, chunks of red and white flew across the pavement. Miyuki immediately dodged to the side before she even knew what was happening, knowing only that this was the most instinctive thing to do in this moment of crisis.

Ranma immediately shot three rounds center mass into Ryu's chest out of pure reflexive instinct as the corpse fell lifelessly to the ground. The largely exposed head literally flooded out blood and bodily fluids which flowed down to the curb.

From behind the Toyota Ranma saw Jackson getting up, a serious look in his eyes. He saw in his right hand his Desert Eagle sidearm, the muzzle was still smoking. Jackson helped Miyuki to the sidewalk where Natsumi was to avoid getting blood on their shoes.

Ranma walked over to the trio, he could hear several sirens in the background rushing to get here. "Are you two gals okay?" Ranma asked. They were both shaken up and badly bruised in some places, but they looked to be in stable condition.

Miyuki looked up at Ranma with her big brown eyes while hugging her friend Natsumi. She started crying again. "You two have saved our lives. H-how can we ever repay you Mr-?" she said shakily. She went up to hug Ranma around his neck for a bit of comfort. Natsumi stood up and hugged her friend, crying as well. The two were long time experienced police officers. But what happened tonight blew their perception of police work out the door. They were traumatized beyond repair.

"Shh...shh...it's okay," Ranma comforted them. "Don't worry, you're both still alive. I'll have an ambulance help both of you. And my name is Detective Sakamichi."

Ranma looked up to Jackson who was still frozen with a pained look on his face. He too appeared to have been crying. He walked over and gave him a strong hold on the shoulder. "You did good tonight Jackson. You saved that woman's life and pretty much saved all of us as well."

Jackson's lip quivered, he looked down at his partner who was trying to make him feel better. The feeling of killing someone was just too much to bear. "I-I didn't have to...I-I-I could've..." he stuttered.

"NO," Ranma firmly said. "There was no other fucking choice. You saw the shot, and you TOOK it. The best choice isn't always the easiest, Jackson. You've gotta live with it."

"I didn't mean to do it, Captain," Jackson cried. "I didn't mean to kill him!"

"Don't worry about it," soothed Ranma. He knew how his first kill felt like. For the second time in his life he would be comforting his partner after a shootout with casualties.

Miyuki stood up and walked over to Jackson who was sitting down against a wall, curled up. She hugged him tightly, and whispered into his ear. "Thank you for saving my life from that psycho, I'm in debt to you," she said. "You had to kill him, otherwise he would have killed me and everyone else," she comforted. Natsumi came over to him and hugged him as well, just for the sake of finding comfort and giving comfort to someone.

Jackson lifted his head up to reveal his red eyes to the two officers, he looked over to his partner and superior officer.

"Captain, was life as an SIS detective always like this?" Jackson asked in English. "Is this what being an JNSA agent is all about?"

Ranma gave him a steeled look. "No," he replied back in English. "You stick with me kid, this is only the beginning."

[End Chapter 5]

Disclaimer: This is fanfiction, I don't plan to make a profit out of someone else's work, just don't sue me. Jackson Samamoto is mine, all mine!

Author's Ramble: Wow! That took me forever to finish! Although in truth I didn't really finish at all. The reason why I was so delayed was because of constant working stress, inflexible scheduling, and other personal matters. This chapter was supposed to be a lot longer, however as time passed I found myself working on other projects as well (like the complete prose rewrites of chapters 1 and 2!). I'm sorry if you've been anxious. At least I'm not like Hawk, where I lag forever and ever. ^_^ I didn't want to torture people with my slow lagging, so I made the hard decision of stopping the chapter here and releasing it to the public.

Author's Notes: Hoo boy, let's see. First off the JDA. The Japanese Defense Agency is actually a real government agency in Japan, and I know this much that they are indeed the only military capable force that the Japanese government has. I'm not 100% sure on this, but hopefully I researched it correctly. I pretty much made up Nabiki's occupation in the JDA, I just made everything to my own convenience. Sue me if you have a problem with it. :p

For those of you who participated in the poll located on my website concerning Nabiki's occupation...it's amazing how the second least chosen criteria was actually the correct one. You never guessed Nabiki would be a spook, did ya? ^_-

If you've noticed, I have an annoying tendency to describe in full details about anything concerning automobiles. ^^;; For instance all the fancy gear and foot work Ranma does in his Mitsubishi Legnum VR-4 (which is a tight ass sports wagon sold only in Japan and it's packed with a turbocharged 276PS engine) is real, double clutching to downshift and sprint, as well as double clutch downshift emergency engine braking. If you don't know what I'm talking about, tough luck. You'll have to e-mail me or ask someone who knows lots about engine mechanics (and not just some snotty idiot who reads a lot of car magazines).

I've added Jackson as a cool, tough guy type yet soft natured partner for Ranma. His previous occupation is being part of the GIGN, which stands for Groupe de Securite et d'Intervention de la Gendarmerie Nationale. They are France's best counter-terrorists, unfortunately not one of the world's best. I haven't said enough about his character yet, so expect me to describe him and develop his character some more in the next chapter. If you want a better idea of what he looks like, imagine an Asian Kurt Russell. Don't ask, that was just the picture I had in my head when I created him.

IMI stands for Israeli Military Industries. They are the manufacturers of the Desert Eagle pistols, as well as the Jericho pistol (known as the Baby Eagle in the US) and the famous Galiel (I think that's how you spell it) assault rifle.

And for you people who constantly criticized me for giving Ranma super weapons that were modified by Washu, voila. I've shown you here in this chapter they are used (and modded) for a practical reason, not for me to turn him into a fucking indestructible super hero. See, even Ranma can get shot in the line of duty!

The Weaver Tactical Stance. The Weaver Stance that Jackson used while trailing Ranma for the first hit is the (probably worldwide) standard for a mobile tactical shooting stance. To describe what it looks like, a right handed shooter has both his hands on the pistol in a double hand dynamic grip, with the right arm straight and the left arm slightly bent in a comfortable position for assisted recoil absorbance. The shooter also has his body angled to a side so that he/she is a thinner and smaller target, and the feet are placed relatively close to each other. There are two phases of this stance, the ready-fire position and low-ready position. Ready-fire position is basically having the pistol raised and ready to shoot. Low-ready position is having both arms bent downwards so that maneuverability is restored and the firearm is in a safer position. There is much controversy to the effectiveness of the Weaver Stance. Some people believe that for law enforcement a competition style stance is much better(which is similar to the Weaver Stance except that the body is not angled, both arms are bent for somewhat easier targeting, and feet are spread wider apart for somewhat better rapid fire positioning) than a Weaver Stance because peace officers wear (or should be wearing) ballistic vests to protect the chest and torso. A Weaver Stance leaves the side of your body vulnerable, even if the target is smaller, which is unprotected by a bullet proof vest.

The car that Jackson spots, the Nissan Fairlady, is (or used to be when it was still sold here in the US) the Nissan 300ZX. An excellent sports car in my opinion.

The two female cops at the end of this chapter, if you can't recognize them, then... I don't know what to tell you. You've been seriously deprived of some great anime. ^^;;;

The so called "kill zone" that caught Ranma's immediate attention when Jackson, Miyuki, and Natsumi were inspecting the trunk is actually a very important police term. The kill zone is the area between a suspect's vehicle and the law enforcement vehicle. One thing that the LAPD teaches very well (I'm sure the NYPD do this as well) is to control the kill zone. The most fatal mistake any police officer(s) can make is turning their back on criminals while they are in the kill zone. In addition to that, any small radius of area where a suspect stands is considered a moving kill zone. There are many ignorant peace officers out there who make the mistake of handling three or more guys at once by themselves (or with only one partner for that matter) without calling for backup. By doing this, they can't control every suspect, and they eventually turn their back to do something (calling the radio, checking the trunk, etc...) and they get attacked. Even those who don't turn their backs but don't call for backup are easily overpowered and manhandled, even with partners. There have been many poor officers who have been killed in the line of duty because of this simple, yet fatal error. In this fic Ranma recognizes this danger, and he takes action immediately when he sees it.

In case any of you start whining about how it's impossible that Ranma survived a .357 Magnum to the chest even with a ballistic vest, all standard issue vests for police officers (we use the cheapest and least protective ones) can stop .357 Magnum rounds at close range. For those officers who shell out extra bucks for a ceramic or steel chest plate, those stop 5.56mm NATO rifle rounds.

So next time, expect to see the aftermath of this most recent incident, Ranma's SPECIAL training for Jackson, Kiyo and Ranma's first day of high school, and much more!

Big praise to Kenneth "KPJAM" Payne and RedPriest17 (and a small thanks to Therm for pointing out a problem with my dialogue grammar in his usual, professionally pessimistic way ^_^) for prereading my work. Thanks to you guys, I get to look just a bit more intelligent. ^_^

PLEASE, PLEASE, PLEASE SEND ME FEEDBACK!!! I write way faster when people give me feedback! My e-mail is .

Visit my website at .com, or go to . to take a look at some of the weapons Ranma uses in Officer Saotome. I always update there often, and fics always come there first.

Finished December 31st, 2001. Revised for final edition January 22nd, 2002.


	6. 06 Check Six

IMPORTANT!!!!!!! If this is the first time you're reading this fic, you must read starting from Chapter 1 completely first! This story will seem very ridiculous and out of place if you don't.

This fic is a crossover with Ranma and the Tenchi OAV/Universe series. Hopefully you readers know some basic knowledge about both Ranma and Tenchi:) Compared to movies, I would rate this as a "R" fanfic, because of some of the harsh language used.

Here are a few things you must know while reading this:

-For all of you readers, PLEASE read the notes at the end of the fic before you start flaming me for things that you don't understand or think is bogus, my notes just might answer all your questions. If that doesn't do it, feel free to pound away at my mailbox.

-The Ranma aspect of the story takes place after manga 38 and the Tenchi aspect takes place after the TV show/OVA.

-At the end of manga 38 Ranma was at the end of his sophomore year in Furinkan High School and the year is set to 1992. Don't ask why, I chose that particular date out of convenience. This is to set a timeframe where Akane and Ranma met during their lives.

-Also Ranma still has his curse, but his female form has black hair (like the manga) and is now just as tall as his male form.

-Ranma will seem very out of character, but you have to completely read from the first chapter to understand why.

-SgtRanma

Please visit my website at .com/sgtranma!

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Chapter 6: Check Six

April 20th, 2001.

Bokutou-sho Police Precinct – Tokyo, Japan. 1:56 AM.

"Damn, it's really late," Ranma yawned. He looked over at his partner, who was looking at his large handgun thoughtfully as he fidgeted with it in his lap.

"How you feelin' Jackson? Still shell shocked?"

Ranma's partner looked up to him, shaking his head.

"I'm fine, Cap'n."

"That's good," Ranma replied. He raised an eyebrow at him. "You want to talk about it?"

Jackson nodded a couple of times then shook his head. He looked embarrassed. "I feel like a real dip-shit right now," he sighed.

"Why's that?"

Jackson winced at his callous tone. "It's just that...I've trained for years to be a soldier and a professional operative. Yet during my time with GIGN I've never really had to shoot anyone. Sure, we've gone on plenty of raids and I've done lots of intense assignments, but the fact is I've never had a chance to kill anyone in the field."

Ranma grunted and snorted in amusement. "I was actually wondering about that myself, kid. You were hesitant."

Jackson raised an eyebrow. "We're about the same age, you know, I don't understand why you keep calling me a fucking kid."

Ranma scoffed, shaking his head and smiling. "Sorry, I'll stop."

"And yeah, I was very hesitant and nervous out there because I've been out of the game for so long I forgot how to handle the rush," Jackson shrugged. "I guess I was crying out of shock, since it wasn't exactly in the middle of a raging battlefield. I've lost the edge."

"I'd personally say it's the same thing as a battlefield," Ranma replied.

"No, it fucking isn't, and you fucking know it isn't," Jackson scowled. "In a war you have to keep moving on and suppress your emotions till later. What happened tonight... we were just a couple of guys going on a hit."

"Yeah, you're right about that," Ranma said. Then his eyes narrowed. "But guess what? It's our job. Are you telling me you can't do it?"

Jackson winced. "I know it's our job. I lost it because I wasn't prepared. I'm like some grunt out of boot camp."

"Try not to worry about it too much. I know they taught you that much. Like you said, you've been trained for this all your life. Now that you're over it, you just gotta get back on the edge. Besides, I know that you're capable of far more than what you showed me tonight, Samamoto."

He chuckled at that, as sickening as it was. "I'm not just some jerk with a big mouth and an attitude. I promise you I'll prove myself." Jackson looked at a clock on the wall. "I'm gonna head off now."

Ranma nodded to Jackson. "Yeah, don't worry. Just think of the good things you've done instead of the bad. You'll be fine. I'll call you later, for now just report to HQ and do a little bit of research on my other assignment. It'd be okay with me if you stuck around tomorrow."

"We'll see."

"Oh, and Jackson? I know how you feel man, I really do. Whatever you do, don't go out and drink your problems away by yourself. If you gotta numb it out, you got someone to call to keep you company. Got that?"

"I appreciate it." Jackson walked out of the large infirmary.

Jackson was lucky enough to get away with some minor scratches and some bruises, although he was scarred mentally. Ranma counseled him the best he could, using his own experiences to try to comfort him.

A tall and broad shouldered man in sunglasses walked up to Ranma with a cup of coffee in his hand. "Please, have some coffee. You look awfully tired. We can't thank you enough for your help."

"That's alright, Mr-?"

The man stuck his hand out. "Officer Nakajima, Ken. Traffic Division, White Hawk Motorcycle Unit."

Ranma shook his hand. "Nice to meet you. I'm Detective Sakamichi." Ranma decided to play it careful with his ID for now. No telling what would happen if he was found out as an NSA operative.

"Well, Sakamichi-san. Officers Tsujimoto and Kobayakawa are doing fine, they only have some bumps and cuts, all superficial. I'm especially thankful you saved their lives. They're... very close friends..." Nakajima said, mustering back tears. The moment he'd heard the incident over the telephone, Ken had rushed over in a frenzy. Hearing that Miyuki had been caught in the middle of a shootout nearly gave him a heart attack.

But for some reason, hearing what this guy in front of him did frightened him a little more.

"That's good to hear," Ranma replied. Yeah. Next time, before you send them out into the streets, maybe you traffic maids should get a little better training first, Ranma thought.

What had happened earlier in the night had been an avoidable mistake that culminated into a frantic street fight. Ranma had immediately ordered a cover up of the entire incident so that no one outside this police precinct and the people involved would know about anything. Luckily the entire incident happened in a business district, with only a few people hearing the gunshots. For now, he slowly pondered how he was going to handle the one surviving suspect who was arrested and was currently being held in an isolated interrogation room.

"I have to go now, Nakajima-san. I'll give a quick goodbye to those girls and I'll be on my way. I'll handle things through with National Police HQ," Ranma told him.

"Uh, yes sir. Kobayaka and Tsujimoto are in the next hall, third room to the right," Ken said.

"I'll be on my way then," Ranma said. He walked out of the room and headed straight for the room Nakajima he walked in Ranma saw the two women he'd saved earlier, quietly chatting with each other. The two saw Ranma and stood up to greet him.

"Hello, Detective," Miyuki said.

"Hi," Natsumi said, her voice quiet.

Ranma nodded his head. "I just wanted to say goodbye before I left. I hope you two are feeling a little better. I suggest you go see a psychologist or a police counselor."

The two distressed girls stared at him in wonder. Ranma looked calm and relaxed. They had all just come out of the massacre, and both Natsumi and Miyuki were barely able to keep their adrenaline levels in check even with the help of depressants.

Natsumi, although grateful that the detective in front of her had saved her life, was still perplexed as to who this character was. "Who the hell are you anyway? And what were you doing on that street in the middle of the night? I'd like to know," she said adamantly. "Please, enlighten us."

"I was just on a little errand with my rookie partner, and we just wanted to help you. Shit happens," Ranma replied. He was genuinely surprised the girl had the gall to ask a question like that in a rude tone to someone who had just saved her life.

"Who did you say you worked for Sakamichi-san?" Miyuki asked.

His brain quickly racked up the sloppy cover story that he'd made up earlier. "I'm just a detective in the National Police Department, I work under HQ, right up there with the top," Ranma lied.

Natsumi glanced at his holster, which held his silver Beretta. It was rare enough to see police officers with guns, and even then they were given outdated and clunky revolvers. "How did you get a fancy looking gun like that? No police officer, top brass or not, carries anything like that. I've never even seen that in our armory before."

"Look, I just wanted to stop by and make sure you two gals were alright."

"Why'd you order the media blackout? You're a bit strange for a cop," Natsumi replied.

"It was an isolated incident, why stir up trouble and get the media swirling around our crime scene?"

"It's not about that-"

"There's no need to draw any more attention. We don't need to panic ordinary people more than we already have. Honestly, I was just trying to do some damage control."

Natsumi was too tired to argue further.

"I have to go home now, it's quite late," Ranma said with a lame save. If he made it to his temporary apartment near Furinkan soon, he could get at least four hours of sleep. Kiyone was currently staying at a hotel nearby, close enough to pick up in the morning.

Natsumi was tired as well; she didn't feel like continuing her questions to the detective. "Well, I'm fine. Thank you for saving us, we are eternally in your debt," she said sincerely.

"I want to thank you again too," Miyuki added. "I guess I should be more careful in the future. It wasn't like us to fall into such a simple ambush like that."

Ranma gave them a gesture of reassurance. "Don't worry about it. A lot of cops make the same mistake. Just don't do it again. I'll be going now. Sayonara."

"Sayonara," the two girls said in unison.

Ranma took a couple of steps and then stopped in his tracks. He turned around and faced the Bokutou pair, his eyebrows arched with a serious look to them. "Actually, I have one last question."

"What is it?" Natsumi said.

He put his index finger to his lip and thought for a moment. "That," he paused to shake his finger, "wasn't the first incident with a firearm in this area, was it?"

Miyuki and Natsumi both lifted their heads, curious as to where this was going.

"Anou, that's funny how you mention that because we've confiscated a few illegally smuggled pistols that had been either dropped or ditched in shady areas," Miyuki said.

"Yeah, that's right," Natsumi joined her. "There weren't any reported shootings like tonight, but in the past couple of months or so we picked up close to a dozen guns."

"Hmm," Ranma mumbled. This was an interesting discovery. "Thanks, I was just curious, that's all." He turned back around. "You two take care."

"I hope you come back and visit us, sir," Nakajima said, walking into the patient room.

"Sure," Ranma said. Perhaps when this is over, I can reveal who I really am and make some new friends in the police business, he thought. "Maybe we'll hang around later."

Nakajima's radio beeped at that moment. "All units, there's been two separate homicides, stand by for dispatch. Firearms HAVE been involved."

The three Bokutou station officers blinked in surprise.

"What the heck? Did the commander just say there are two more murder cases?" Miyuki asked.

Hmm, it's about time someone found about that, Ranma thought.

"We'd better go with you, Ken-chan," Natsumi said, getting up.

Ranma grabbed her shoulder before she could get up. "No, you two shouldn't go out.

Nakajima nodded in agreement.

Before he left Ranma took something out of his pocket and tossed it to Miyuki. Although he wasn't looking for another girlfriend, he thought Kobayakawa was the prettiest girl of the two. Conceivably this would make for a nice little memento.

"Ara, what's this?" she asked, holding a deformed little piece of metal in her hand. She squinted her eyes to observe it closely, she couldn't identify what it was.

"That's a souvenir for you. It comes from the heart," he smirked, tapping his vest.

-------------

Once he was sure no one was around him, Ranma carefully ran around the large police precinct to search for the interrogation halls. The entire place was very isolated, there seemed to be only a few officers left in such a huge building. Not to mention there was a high priority homicide call that got every swinging dick's attention. This was helpful though, he was able to snoop around without any suspicion. His little water thermos came in handy. In the dark stairwells he pressed the button for cold water and shifted into female form for extra stealth.

Ranma resumed her search after briskly adjusting her clothes. To her surprise, she found what he was looking for with little effort. She entered a door that said "Interrogation" in big white Japanese characters. She was even more surprised when she went inside to find it to be only a single room.

A growling voice came out of the dark corner. "Who the hell are you?"

The suspect was sitting down behind a metal table. His hands were cuffed, although curiously his legs were free and unrestrained. Ranma spotted a roll of duct tape that was conveniently sitting on a shelf. Without warning she knocked the lone convict with a quick jab to the throat and she quickly taped up his mouth before he could start screaming.

"Mmmf! Whff, mff, mmff!!"

Ranma backhanded him across the face, hard enough for the guy to taste the metallic tang of blood in his mouth. "Shut up. Just breathe slowly through your nose, I know it hurts. It's gonna hurt more if you don't do exactly as I say."

The gagged suspect groaned in pain, tears freely flowing from his eyes from unbridled pain.

"I know who you are, and I know what you do. Now, if you don't waste my time, this will go by with very little pain. Do you understand? Just nod your head yes or no." Ranma wrapped the thick tape around his body and the chair to secure him tightly, but his arms were still free.

The man shook his head up and down to show that he understood Ranma's instructions. He was terrified by this sudden shock of seeing some completely random woman barging in to bind him. Judging by her incredibly forceful treatment, he assumed she was a cop in the building.

"Let's see," Ranma said. She took out a small notepad from a pocket along with a pen and placed it in front of him. "Your name is Keitaro, right? From the Oroshi clan? I know all about the things you do and some of the things you did, and I know that I don't have time to waste with your ass either. So let's make this quick. First, I need to know who your supplier is. Just write it down, you should be able to do that in your handcuffs."

Keitaro grunted, he was really fucked over this time. Whoever this girl was, she seemed to know about him. He picked up the pen and scribbled something down.

Ranma saw him writing, she carefully observed everything he did. Keitaro seemed to hesitate for a quick second before writing down what he needed.

"Hmm." Ranma pulled the notepad and read it. "Jun, Kushida. Is this the guy?"

Keitaro nodded yes.

With a smile and a nod, Ranma scribbled out the name and without a warning kicked Keitaro hard in the shins, grabbed his hair and smashed his face against the table.

"Mmmf!! Mmmmmff!!!" he cried in painful agony. His nose started to trickle with blood.

Ranma gave him a cold stare, and slapped him across the face again. "Don't fuck with me. I can tell you're lying. Now let's try this again. I ain't exactly happy about you and your buds trying to kill cops. Gimme the real name of the guy you work under, NOW."

He was crying now, out of both fear and pain. Tears streamed down his face, both from the physical pain and his injured pride. Cops didn't do things like this!

"I'm not gonna repeat myself, hurry the hell up and write it down."

Keitaro looked hard into Ranma's eyes, terrified of what this deceptively beautiful woman in front of him might do. Could she possibly be calling a bluff? He looked over to Ranma's right hand, which was curled up into a fist. Keitaro winced and scribbled down a different name, this time he gave the real one.

Ranma smirked. His bluff worked, it was a good thing he checked things twice. "All right, that's good. Hiroko, Okuno. Now where can I find him?" Ranma asked.

"Mmf mmf, mmf!" Keitaro grunted, shaking his head no.

"You don't know?"

He shook his head enthusiastically.

"You don't know, huh? Well that's too bad." Ranma wrapped her cold fingers around his throat and squeezed tight. "If that's the best you got I'm just going to have to kill you."

Keitaro tried to scream through the thick duct tape but couldn't.

Ranma looked at her victim with cold eyes. Torturing someone wasn't her style, but she felt drunk with power. He seemed to shake his head furiously under her grip, begging for another chance.

As soon as she let him go Keitaro's hand twitched violently as he tried to scribble a location

Ranma took a look at the notepad, and almost croaked. "Furinkan? Furinkan High School?" She gulped. "If you're lying to me again I'm not gonna give you a second chance." omething told her that this was too coincidental to be a lie, and it was eerie. She picked up the notepad and pocketed it, along with the pen.

"Mmmf!" He nodded.

Ranma took a deep breath and then ripped off the masking tape off his mouth. He was too petrified to scream, and shuddered as the adhesive stuck and tested the painful elasticity of his skin. She saw some extension cords in the room, left on the floor. It seemed the last person to use this room had forgotten to clean up their mess.

Keitaro looked up at Ranma, confused as to what she was doing. She seemed to be tying up the extension cord to something on the ceiling while standing on top of the interrogation table. Keitaro contemplated attacking her right now, perhaps getting a chance to escape, but he decided against it, seeing as how it'd only end up with him in even more pain.

"Ah, there you go." Ranma hopped off the table and grabbed Keitaro by the back of his shirt.

When the young Yakuza looked up, his face turned ash pale. "Is that a fuckin' noose!? What do you think you're doing you crazy bitch!?" Keitaro yelled.

Ranma pulled out her pistol and had the muzzle against his temple. "I'm pretty sure you'd rather commit suicide than go back to your brothers to get tortured beyond your wildest imagination. Trust me, I'm gonna make sure that happens when I use this information to my advantage. So I'll give you three choices. Either you go up there by yourself and hang yourself, I use this gun to force you up there, or last but not least, I beat the shit out of you myself and then shoot you. Take your pick."

"Oh, god," Keitaro gulped in fear, tears starting to stream down his eyes. It was true, if he did somehow get out of here his superiors would give him a world of pain, and then kill him for squealing important information.

"All right, I'll go up there," he conceded.

"Wha?" Ranma blinked. She didn't expect him to give in that easy. He was expecting him to put up a fight. "You give up that easy?"

"Hell no!" Keitaro tried to jump at him and try to do whatever he could before he went down, damn it to hell if his life would end like this.

Before he could even get out of his seat Ranma maneuvered around him into a choking headlock.

She couldn't help but smirk at the guy's last ditch tactic. Heck, anyone would've done something like this.

"I'm really sorry, bud," Ranma whispered to his ear as he struggled for dear life. "This is the only merciful way I can think of to punish you for your sins..."

The severe pressure from her arms wasn't enough to break his neck outright. Ranma nervously watched as he struggled violently for air.

"One of your friends killed a cop's wife and child," she suddenly started talking. "You tried to kill some cops tonight. For that, I want you to know I can't forgive."

Ranma let go when she felt the body go limp from fainting. She didn't want him to suffocate to death and leave some tell tale signs for the procedural autopsy that would follow for a suicide.

She messily and clumsily got the extension cord around Keitaro's neck and tightened it well and kicked out the table from underneath. The body flinched for just a second; it was as if he came back to consciousness just for a split second to feel death overcome him before his neck snapped.

Satisfied that the scene was clean of incriminating evidence against her, Ranma walked out of the room, undetected. She looked back at the door solemnly, mind blank. Feeling a bit nauseous and dizzy, she quickly went back to getting the hell out of here. Ranma slipped out the gates of the station undetected and she walked to the closest dark alley to pour warm water from her thermos over her face. With the trigger cursed he adjusted his pants and made his way out into the street. With Jackson taking the car, he searched for the closest taxicab for a ride.

He politely requested his destination to the driver and then closed his eyes shut, relieved that the day was finally through.

***

April 20th, 2001.

Furinkan High School, Classroom 2S - Nerima, Japan. 7:45 AM.

"Everyone, I'd like you to meet a new student. He's from America, although he used to live in Japan before that. His name is Keisuke Ohata," Hinako Ninomiya chirped.

Ranma stepped into the classroom, wearing a loose fitting pair of tan khakis and a long sleeved t-shirt, complimented by a pair of crisp white Nike Air Force 1's. He was the spitting image of himself from when he was in college, except for a few details of course. His hair was given much change; a simple release of his ponytail gave him long messy hair that reached his shoulders. To complete the look, his eyes were now dark brown thanks to some special contact lenses and he sported a thin wire framed set of glasses. The simplistic disguise did its job and he looked like a completely different person.

Apparently Furinkan had adopted a "casual" Friday policy to make things more comfortable to students these days who demanded more freedom than when Ranma was a high school student. He had his bulky pistol cleverly hidden inside of his pants with a special concealed carry holster, however that didn't mean it was comfortable. He was going to have to pick up some better conceal carry handguns later.

"Hello, my name is Ohata, Keisuke. I moved here on my own from California, so that I could live a life in Japan again. Nice to meet you all," Ranma announced to the class.

The students gave him a mix of greetings. Most of the boys ignored him, except for a few who were interested by the fact that he came from America. But most of the girls paid careful attention to him, already gossiping away about the new boy in class.

Ranma ignored their reactions and simply bowed. He looked around and tried to remember all their faces, and see if he could come up with any potential suspects. There were some classic stereotypical delinquents in the corner, judging from their rebellious hairstyles and the intimidating glares they were sending his way. A couple of students in front of him caught his attention and made him nervous, as he could have sworn that he heard them wondering why he looked so old for a teenager. Ranma silently gulped.

"You can go sit over there in the back, Ohata-kun," Hinako told Ranma. She motioned for him to go to the same corner he was observing. She also cued someone at the doorway to come in. "Class, you will also have a new teacher for your English and History sessions."

A long legged teal haired Kiyone walked in wearing a light yellow one-piece dress that came down to her upper thighs. She walked in feeling very uncomfortable, and she did her best to hide it with steely resolve. Her usual orange bandanna gave an interestingly roguish touch to her elegant figure.

Damn that Mihoshi, Kiyone bitterly thought. She had actually prepared a very conservative and professional looking ensemble to wear, but the blonde airhead had accidentally spilled orange juice all over it yesterday before she left for Nerima, and as a quick compromise she had to wear this short and racy one-piece dress from Mihoshi's wardrobe instead. There was no alternative as Mihoshi had subsequently spilled more juice onto the remainder of her clothes. Mihoshi was given quite a scolding.

It also meant she now had the added hassle of having to carry a firearm in her purse. She could've left it behind and saved herself the trouble, but Kiyone liked being prepared for anything. Mihoshi had promised to bring her some other clothes later today or tomorrow afternoon after Saturday school was finished. Fortunately enough, Mihoshi would be able to pilot her own ship Yukinojo in stealth cloaking to save her the trouble of a long car ride.

Kiyone tried her best to smile and ignore the leers of the males. "Hello, my name is Toshikawa, Emi. It's a pleasure to meet all of you."

As she anticipated, all the boys in the class systematically ogled her. She in turn systematically pictured a vasectomy for each of them.

She was pretty annoyed, and borderline pissed at Ranma too, now that she thought about it. She barely suppressed the urge to give him a dirty glare for changing an originally simpler plan. They had earlier discussed entering the school as students in different classes, but Ranma in all his wisdom had decided it might be more effective to have Kiyone enter as a teacher to switch around in as many senior classes as possible for a possible scoop.

The end result, Kiyone realized, was she was in a position in which she barely had any knowledge of what to do, stuck in a skimpy outfit that felt about as appropriate as wearing a bikini to work.

"Hello, Toshikawa-sensei," the class replied in unison.

The vibrant and young Hinako in her child form was hanging out the window sucking the chi out of a couple of students who were smoking next to a tree. Amazingly, Hinako expertly managed to aim her chi-drain at only the delinquents, not the entire yard, which had a couple of straggling students trying to get to class and a couple of custodians who were cleaning the courtyard.

"Ick," Ranma quietly said to himself. He gulped a nervous lump down his throat, it seemed Hinako had learned how to suck chi from long ranges like a goddamn sniper.

"Well, students," the now adult Hinako said. She stepped back into the middle of the classroom. "I hope you all treat Ms. Toshikawa with the same courtesy that you give to any new teacher."

The class didn't give an enthusiastic "Hai!" Instead they gave a mundane reply of scoffs and other mumbled replies.

"Now, Ms. Toshikawa won't be a permanent replacement. She is going to be present in the room along with me most of the time so that she can get used to the school. I know this isn't what normally happens when a new teacher joins our staff, but just this one time we're going to try something new," Hinako finished.

Ranma leaned in his seat, trying his best not to glare at Hinako. Still a bimbo, he thought to himself. How careless could she be by telling the students that they're trying something new? A disruption of procedure was one of the taboos of undercover success.

The morning went by without a single hitch. Both Hinako and Kiyone ignored Ranma and let him do whatever he needed to. He was either busy taking notes or checking out the other students to see if they were of interest. They all seemed normal enough, with all their miniscule and kawaii cell phones and highlighted hair styles.

But Ranma didn't need to look too far that the ones with him in the corner were the interesting ones, like he had originally suspected. They didn't look very hospitable and they looked like scumbags. Ranma could see by the ways their eyes fluttered and wandered at random moments and the way they shifted in their seats, they were currently on the influence of something. Most likely some sort of upper.

Soon it was ten minutes before lunch break. The students idly listened to their math teacher's lecture. He carried around a bokken with him, used to intimidate the students. Ranma was trying his best to look like he was paying attention. He idly wondered where Kiyone was...

"Keisuke, get up here and solve this equation," the teacher called to him.

Ranma blinked. "Me?" he lamely replied.

"Yeah, you. You freakin' moron. Who the hell do you think I was calling?"

Ranma gulped. At least the teachers were still strict as always when it came to instructing.

----------

Kiyone grumbled slightly as she sat down next to Hinako in the main teacher's office. There were only a couple of teachers left in the room, they were all either teaching or having a quick meal off campus.

She felt worthless at the moment, as well as nervous. She had no idea how to be a teacher, not to mention this sexy outfit she had wasn't quite professional. However nobody scolded her about it, since it was the sort of outfit Hinako would wear. On a daily basis at that.

The bandanna on her forehead looked a little out of place, but Kiyone fidgeted with it a bit and decided to keep it on anyway. She looked over to her helper, and couldn't help but notice that Hinako looked a little nervous around her and Ranma.

"What's wrong, Ninomiya-san? You've been looking a bit shaky ever since we came."

"Me?" Hinako waved her hands. "No, it's nothing. It's just that I've been feeling under the weather lately, that's all."

Kiyone looked around to see if anyone was listening to their conversation. They were alone. "Is it because of all the work you had to do to get us in?"

"Uh, yeah. That sort of has to do with it. But I didn't mind. Really!" Hinako said.

It was actually quite a bit of work for Hinako, but only because she had to go back and forth from her home to deliver documents to the Principal. Upon Ranma's request, multiple packages of forged (although technically they weren't forged, they were recreated documents from the government, so it was legal) documents that contained new identities for Ranma, and teaching credentials and a whole new set of identification documents for Kiyone as well. Everything was immediately expedited, and most of it was already waiting for Hinako at her house by the time she got home.

"Well, we thank you for your cooperation on this case. We really appreciate it," Kiyone said.

"Oh, you're welcome. It's no trouble at all, I'm just glad to help," Hinako said, her face was now cheery.

"Let's go back to the classroom and check up on 'Keisuke', shall we?" Kiyone recommended.

"I think I'll head off and find something to eat, if you don't mind."

"Oh, ok. Sure," Kiyone said.

The buxom brunette got out of her seat and exited the room, leaving Kiyone by herself.

"I might as well go too." Kiyone grabbed her bento on the desk and headed for classroom 2S.

----------

Once lunchtime started, Sagushi-sensei left the room after telling his students to behave. At this time many of the students left the room to head to the cafeteria or to eat outside. The rest stayed inside the classroom, content in eating with their friends on the desks.

Ranma headed out himself, although back in his high school days he stayed inside the classroom to eat with Akane and Ukyou. But he didn't have a bento with him. He didn't have enough time to do so in the morning.

He spotted the same kids who sat around him in class sitting on top of several large rocks that were there as a decoration to the front yard. They had two students kneeling under them, presumably students from a lower grade. They were currently being bullied around and hazed.

The leader of the pack spotted Ranma. Their eyes locked on.

"You two can go now, you're dismissed," the kid said, kicking the two kneeling underclassmen. "Hey, you! New kid! Get over here!"

Ranma pretended to avoid them. "Me?" he said, pointing to himself.

"Yes, you. Get over here." He gave an evil sneer. It was about time he got a chance to haze some fresh meat.

This was a chance for him to get to know who these little punks were. He walked over to them casually in his usual graceful step. "I'm Keisuke Ohata. What's yours?" Ranma asked him as politely as he could.

The kid scoffed, "What's my name?" He smacked Ranma hard upside the head.

Ranma bit the inside of his cheek, he had to be patient. For the sake of the assignment, he repeatedly told himself.

"I'll tell you my name, you disrespectful goody-goody. I'm Okuno Hiroko. Remember it." He gave "Keisuke" another smack, this time on the back of his head.

Okuno and his goons laughed and smacked Ranma on the head as well, just to degrade and humiliate him. It was a sad little tradition. There were always assholes around every school campus that were misfits and hazed the shit out of newbies and underclassmen. This never happened when Ranma was here, because the bullies knew they'd get a beat down from him if they ever threatened the innocent.

Right now, Ranma fought down the urge to break every bone in their bodies as they constantly smacked him.

"Yeah, take a look at this fucking fairy. His glasses look like they cost a fortune. I bet he's a rich ass," one of the goons said.

Okuno smacked him again, on the back of his head. "You got any money, punk?"

"Um, yeah. Why?" Ranma meekly said. Another smack came his away.

"Don't ask questions. Just hand it over."

Clenching his teeth, Ranma slid his hand into his back pocket to take out some cash. He had about 30,000 yen in his wallet, so he cleverly slipped out only one bill. Luckily it was only a thousand yen bill.

Okuno ruthlessly snatched the bill out of Ranma's hand, almost tearing it. He spat at Ranma's feet, pocketing the cash. "This all you have?" He smacked Ranma hard across the side of his head. "With all your GQ fancy clothes and shoes I thought you were rich! You poor?"

"......" Ranma stood silent.

He received another smack to the back of his head. "Answer me, damn it. Are you poor? I guess I'll take your silence for a 'yes'."

The other bullies laughed and smacked Ranma's head, a few of them pulling his ear and a few kicking him. Damn kids. These youngsters seriously needed to learn some life lessons.

Ranma stood silent and took the hazing. It was all for the discipline of being undercover, he brooded. It was all for the sake of doing the job...

"All right, I've had enough fun with you. Get out of my face, Ohata," Okuno said. He waved Ranma away.

"Hai..." Ranma said meekly. He bowed his head and walked away quickly. As soon as he was out of their view, he started grinning. So, that was Okuno Hiroko. A bratty little punk, just like he expected. Ranma swept off his shirt and his hair with his fingers, and any other place where he was smacked.

He'd tried hard not to look Okuno in the eyes, because it would've been a clear sign of disrespect. Most likely that was what caused Okuno to call Ranma over in the first place, when their eyes locked. But he did get a quick glance or two, and he confirmed his suspicions of Okuno's drug use. His eyes were heavily dilated.

This was a good start for now, he decided. He was going to investigate everything slowly, and gather as much information as possible. Ranma took out his cell phone real quick to check the time. It was still only less than ten minutess into the lunch period. He still had about half an hour to relax. He decided to go back to the classroom.

As he went up the steps of the school corridors, something didn't set right in Ranma's mind.

It was time to take a quick look at what he had so far. So let's see, he pondered in his mind. That Okuno kid had a connection with the Oroshi yakuza family. Even if that were so, how would he be able to handle and transport mass amounts of highly illegal and expensive narcotics? Even if he did have his punk friends help him out, he'd still have much trouble even storing it, let alone distributing it. The mobsters he knew for sure were in no way connected to the actual central distribution, they only received it in moderate amounts, sold it, and reaped the profits. It has to be something more, Ranma thought. Some large 3rd party, perhaps. There was even a possibility of a conjunction with the school itself. Not only that, there was the added problem of discovering usable and readily available firearms for the mob. Such a large and complicated drug trade was surely new in Japan, and little details that could've been used to detect such activity was largely ignored and unseen by the local police as it wasn't something to be expected. Ranma surely counted on the fact that of course Japan like any other country had its bouts with drugs, most likely with opium and home-made chemical drugs like meth, but nothing on the scale of an organized and massive narcotics distribution of cocaine, heroine, and other rare drugs.

His thoughts were interrupted as he entered the classroom, there he bumped into Kiyone.

"Eh?" Ranma looked up from the floor. "Oh, hi Kiyo-- I mean Toshikawa-sensei."

The teal haired teacher in disguise rapped him on the head with her lunch box. "Just call me Emi-sensei, Toshikawa sounds too awkward," she whispered.

Ranma gave her a wink. "Don't worry. I've got a lead on the case, I'll talk to you about it later."

"Why not now?" Kiyone asked. She lifted up her bento. "I was actually looking around for you, but I didn't see you anywhere. I know you didn't eat and you didn't bring your own lunch, so let's share mine. I've got plenty of food," she kindly offered.

"Thanks, I was starving." He walked back to the teacher's desk with Kiyone and pulled up a chair to sit with her. The bandanna on Kiyone's head finally caught his attention. "By the way, lose the bandanna. It looks out of place and unusual enough for some perp from Okayama to recognize you."

"This thing?" She stroked her hand hand across her forehead and she reluctantly took it off her head. It made sense, especially for an undercover assignment. But still, she noticed how stern he sounded by the tone of his voice.

The long haired Keisuke reached back to flick his hair, missing the pigtail he had as Ranma. He rubbed the top of his head. "Damn these kids, ever since I graduated I guess the bully routine got real popular."

"I used to bully other kids when I was in elementary school," she chuckled. Kiyone took the lid off the bento and handed Ranma an extra set of chopsticks. The two started eating and chatting, talking about Okuno and his gangster friends. The topic slowly strayed off however, and the two started engaging in cop talk and sharing stories to each other about their friends.

The two ate and giggled amongst each other, taking advantage of the isolated classroom. Neither had to worry about a student or another teacher getting the wrong impression if they were seen together, it seemed everyone, even the faculty, had gone outside to enjoy a nice Friday afternoon.

School flew by the rest of the day with little fervor, Kiyone and Hinako were dismissing the class at 3:00 and the rest was history. The two undercover detectives parted with Hinako after saying their goodbyes, and they were on their way.

The front of the school lot was completely empty, although there were a few students per classroom that were staying a little later to clean up and there were several sports teams practicing in the gym or the soccer field. No one saw 'Keisuke' walking out with the sexy new teacher.

"So, what're your plans for the rest of the day?" Ranma asked.

Kiyone thought about it as they walked to a parking lot outside the school. "I don't know. Is there anything else we should do for today?"

"The case? Nah. Let's forget about it for today. We have to take this thing very carefully and patiently. I prefer not to by hasty for undercover assignments," he replied.

Just as he finished the sentence a splash of water from above turned Ranma into a girl. Kiyone's eyes bugged out in surprise and stood speechless as Ranma in her female form was still taller than her.

"And I was so careful and lucky all day too," the cursed girl sighed. She pulled out the Washu-thermos and pressed the warm button to splash some water in her face.

"This thing comes in pretty damn handy," he said, reverted back to his normal form.

"Does cold water just find you outta nowhere?" Kiyone looked around for the source, and oddly enough she couldn't think of where that splash of water came from.

"It's part of the curse I think," Ranma said. "It happens all the time. I gotta get some waterproof soap for the mornings I come here."

"I don't think I'll ever get bored or used to watching that," Kiyone blurted out.

Ranma looked tired. "You'll get used to it, trust me."

She thought about that, and agreed at the novelty. "True, true." Kiyone nodded. "I'm a bit tired right now, and I want to change out of this skimpy dress. Mihoshi said she'd come over for sure today, in the afternoon. I gave her a call on my cell."

"You go ahead and rest then. I want to explore Nerima a little. I haven't really scoped this place out much, not in the past nine years, anyway," he chuckled. When he came four years ago after college he'd been to only three places. The Tendo home, Ucchan's, and his parents' home. After that, back to the US he had gone.

"Being a teacher sucks. I can't stand a job where I have to stand around all day, even if it for the better education of these kids. I'd rather be a patrol officer any day," Kiyone smirked.

"Don't be too harsh on educators. They're doing a public service too, you know. I bet that's why you're so enthusiastic about being with the Galaxy Police, eh?" Ranma quipped.

Kiyone huffed. "I'm a career woman, and I proudly admit that. But I'd rather be a field officer here on earth than being a big shot at the GP. I've been with the top before, and I was fired from it too. It's all political bullshit once you get up there at a certain level. I guess there was a time when I wanted to be up top, but I've learned from experience," Her expression turned a shade darker, and she thought for a moment. "I just can't stand that."

Ranma was impressed; he gave her a nod of approval. "That's quite an attitude you got there. I like that in a woman," he said, giving her a wink.

"Ha! Look who's talking! A guy who's been a cop for merely four years and already he's a CAPTAIN in a federal agency. I like that in a man," she said in a husky voice. Ranma replied with a wolf whistle and a chuckle.

If Mihoshi was there at that moment to catch Kiyone flirting the way she was at the moment, she would've slapped herself silly.

The pair soon found themselves at a small parking lot outside the campus. "Hey, I'll see you later, okay? Take care," Ranma said.

"All right. Give me a call later tonight or something, so that we can figure out what to do tomorrow."

"Sure, just rest for today or tour the city. I'll give you a call later," Ranma said.

----------

After arriving to his temporary "apartment", he was finally glad to have his hairstyle back to the usual pigtail. Wearing those faux glasses sucked too, and the colored contact lenses. He felt relieved to get rid of them.

Ranma sighed in disbelief at his new temporary apartment. He'd asked for something small and normal, but instead Takayama gave him a luxurious one. Apparently this was also a seldom used safe house for foreign intelligence agencies that cooperated with the JNSA, as well as a safe house/haven for JNSA agents themselves. Takayama told him it was also used as a vacation home for himself, which partially explained for the vast luxuries.

But the chances of this place being in Nerima and so close to where he used to live? He couldn't believe his luck.

He looked out a large window in the middle of the living room, giving a great view of the new and improved Nerima. Of course the window was actually tinted on the other side with a thick metallic coating that prevented outsiders from peering in. He gave a great big sigh and tried to remember all the things he did in his teenage years.

"Akane..." he idly mumbled.

It was already four years since he'd found out that she was in love with Ryoga. He was still a damn immature kid, even after college. Now that he reflected on his past, he realized how easily he'd dumped his life in Japan to start over in the US. He broke off any relations with Akane or anyone else in Japan (except for his parents) with a bitter heart, firm in deciding never to return again.

However he did return, on an impulsive decision thanks to a letter that just happened to find him at the right time.

The pigtailed boy sighed again. He walked over to a cabinet chock full of various different hard liquors and other expensive spirits. He took out a large bottle of Bacardi 151, one of the stronger liquors that Ranma had grown to be wary of. It was one of those things he hadn't seen or touched in a while. He unscrewed the cap and took a nice long slug of the rum, the alcohol gave a harsh burning sensation down his throat. It definitely gave the proper buzz, quick and to the point as his stomach properly indicated.

Instead of relegating to such a cheap and quick one-hitter quitter, Ranma grabbed a bottle of Johnny Walker Blue Label that was sitting half empty on the top shelf of the cabinet. He could barely contain his smile as he filled up a glass and poured the fine scotch whiskey into a chilled glass from the bar's mini-fridge, swirling it to perfection. The 25 year old scotch dazzled his taste buds as it drifted through like a fresh snow drizzled breeze cooling his entire throat.

"Ah." That felt a lot better. He felt much more calm and relaxed once the aftertaste disappeared, perhaps maybe too much so. Ranma looked at the clock. For crying out loud, it was still only 3:35 in the afternoon. He remembered the last time he had drank this was with Kiyone, and he'd started drinking early then too.

He looked out the window again, pondering whether to visit old faces again. Being bitter was getting tiring, holding grudges made Ranma feel like less of a man, it was something only some shit-brained chick would do. He supposed he could go back to the Tendo home, and make up with Akane and Ryoga. He wasn't sure how Ryoga would handle the welcome, however. After all, he did break his arm over a stupid quarrel. And that was on the first day he came back from the US, too.

Ranma got up and changed into some new clothes, a nice pair of loose and comfortable tan khakis that weren't quite as baggy and an open short sleeved navy blue shirt on top of a white long sleeved shirt. He decided to wear the shoes he wore to school, it was actually nice to go back to wearing Vans skater shoes again. They were big, comfy, and stylish, and were just as useful as running shoes.

He got his Beretta and placed it back into his regular carry holster, which was much more comfortable and safer to use although more visible.

After grabbing his car keys and cell phone, Ranma left the building.

----------

"Wow, a lot of these places are new!" Ranma said aloud to himself. He was walking down the local business districts of Nerima, observing all the new cafes and restaurants that had been developed since the last time he came here. Most of these places were all family owned and operated, with the exception of the few franchised fast food stores such as McDonalds and Pizza Hut. It was still just as great as ever.

There weren't any shortage of yatais either, with plenty of vendors covering the busy street. Ranma bought a large plastic cup full of beer, and was enjoying it as he walked along. That was the nice thing about Japan, here you could freely walk around with an alcoholic beverage in your hand.

The original Ucchan's Okonomiyaki restaurant was actually very close to where he was at the moment, but he didn't want to bother visiting since Ucchan was in Okayama right now anyway.

A sleek blue and white Suzuki motorcycle blasted past Ranma in the middle of the open street. There were a lot of people around, but the motorcyclist skillfully steered and banked out of the way while still maintaining speed. Ranma could tell it was a girl by the tight and curvy body. The driver stopped right in front of Ucchan's Okonomiyaki, and she mounted herself from the seat. Ranma couldn't help but give an appreciative nod. She was a fox, and her choice of clothing showed off the killer bod.

Ranma almost gagged when he saw the sport bike rider take off her helmet. It was Ukyou, wearing a pair of curve hugging blue jeans and a tight fitting, red leather bike jacket. Her long, silky auburn hair gently fell as it was released from the confines of the helmet.

"Ucchan!" Ranma yelled out at her. He felt a little embarrassed at ogling his best friend.

"Huh?" Ukyou turned around, and saw Ranma to her surprise. "Ranchan?"

Her best friend was running towards her with a big smile on his face. "Ranchan? What're you doing here?" she asked.

"I was just in Nerima for business. I was just walking around, trying to feel nostalgic, ya know?"

"Ah, I see. I'm so happy to see you! Do you want to come in and grab a bite to eat?" Ukyou offered. She looked around, Ranma was alone and didn't have that Kiyone girl with him this time. "The dinner rush is gonna come soon, I can cook it for you myself!"

"No thanks," Ranma replied. He eyed Ucchan's sport bike with interest. "Wow, is this your bike? I never knew you even knew how to ride one! I thought you were going to buy a car?" Ranma asked.

Ukyou proudly patted her Suzuki. "This is my Suzuki Super Sport GSX-R1000. I bought it just a few days ago, actually. I decided instead of getting a nice car, I bought this bike for about 850,000 yen which mostly came from the money you gave me, and I decided to use the money I saved up to buy a used pickup truck for the restaurants, since I don't really transport stuff very often."

Ranma whistled. "Yeow, this thing is impressive," Ranma complimented.

"Yeah, it has a 988cc engine. This motor pulls off wheelies on command," Ukyou said, smiling. "It takes on just about anything on the road. I need something like this to get me to my restaurants quick and easily," she explained.

"Who taught you how to ride motorbikes, Ucchan?" Ranma asked, burning with curiosity. "This ain't exactly a normal bike, I bet it's a monster to handle."

She placed her helmet on the bike seat and brushed her hand through her hair. "I've ridden long enough to have pretty good control, I actually bought an old Gixxer 400cc* a few years ago and I decided to sell it off not too long ago. The bike has some serious power, but I'm not exactly a weakling either. I've known how to ride them for about two years. As for learning it first time around? Ryoga's the culprit."

*Check notes at end.

"Ryoga?" Ranma chuckled. This day was full of surprises. "You two are good friends now?"

"Yep. We're all real good friends now. Me, Akane, Ryoga, Mousse, and even Shampoo. Ryoga is a real nice guy now that he's with Akane," Ukyou said. She didn't notice Ranma's right eye twitch at what she just said. "He's been riding for about four years now. I don't know where he learned himself, but he's really good at it, much better than me. He just bought a new bike a couple of weeks ago, actually. It's a Suzuki GSX 1300R Hayabusa, except it's for sport touring and it's more of a cruiser, not quite the same as a super sport." She patted her bike again. "Thing bike is a lot wilder; I'm having tons of fun barely controlling this Gixxer," she laughed.

"Jeez. Akane actually lets him off with a motorcycle? What does he do when he gets lost?"

"His sense of direction is a lot better now," Ukyou said, causing Ranma to smirk. "His talking GPS unit works real well, and Ryoga finally learned to at least follow voice directions," she explained. "I actually called Ryoga yesterday and told him I got a new bike. He's going to help me pick out some great aftermarket parts for it and help me customize it to my tastes."

"Ryoga is a gearhead? Wow." Times sure do change, Ranma thought. He shivered internally, he'd been missing in action from his old life for way too long, and now all these changes were a bit overwhelming. He put his hand on the throttle of the bike and twisted it a couple of times. The small tachometer showed an engine redline of that went past 12,000 RPM. "This bike is pretty awesome. I learned how to ride them a long time ago, but I only learned the basics only, so I don't know too much." His face softened at the unintentional recollection of a memory he didn't want to recall.

"You want me to teach you someday, Ranchan?" Ukyou asked. "Although not on this one. It's for advanced riders."

"Haha, I'll take it as a refresher course. Sure, I'd love it," he replied.

"What're you up to, this evening?" Ukyou asked. She wondered if she could possibly snare Ranma for the evening and have a good time, perhaps even a romantic one if she could execute it with tact.

Ranma scratched the back of his head. "Actually, I was thinking of heading to the Tendo-dojo, maybe meet up with Akane and Ryoga. I want to try to get on better terms with them, seeing as how I caused a commotion on my first day in Japan."

"Oh, alright then. Good luck to you, Ranchan," Ukyou said, a bit disappointed. She turned to enter her restaurant.

"Do you want to hang out and do something later in the evening though, Ucchan?" Ranma asked. "I'm not going to stay at Akane's all day, and I don't really have much to do tonight. Wanna be me date for the evening?"

Ukyou froze in her steps and turned around, overwhelmed by what he had just said. "Uh... sure, Ranchan. I'd love to hang out with you later," she replied with a happy smile.

"Alright. I'll call you then. You wouldn't have a cell phone, would ya?"

"Actually, I do." She stepped inside the restaurant real quick and took a restaurant business card that was on the counter of the lobby. "Here, I'll jot it down for you, Ranchan."

Ranma pocketed the card and gave Ukyou his own cell phone number, which she programmed into her phone. "I'll see you later then, bye!"

"Bye!" Ukyou chirped.

---------

It wasn't long before Ranma reached the Tendo residence. He still knew this darn neighborhood like the back of his hand.

He noticed that the fences he used to run on top of in his younger days were replaced with newer, stronger fence railings. The streets were just the same, the homes looked the same, albeit a bit older, and the calm mood of the spring air brought on a nostalgic sensation within Ranma. It wasn't a big deal, really. But it brought back some fond memories, nonetheless.

A feeling of dread seemed to flood his mind as he walked towards the entrance. It had been years since he came back here. One memory after another seemed to pop up in his mind, reminding him of the good times he had. He was about to knock on the gate when he noticed it was actually unlocked and slightly opened. He pushed it aside and walked in, noting an inherent difference of the compound since the last time he'd come here.

Over in the corner of the yard was a small metal shack, most likely a makeshift garage for Ryoga's bike, since there was a tidy concrete path that led to it, spotted with drops of motor oil.

The pond looked the same as always, but on closer inspection it was actually enlarged and was much wider and deeper. Perhaps Ryoga and Akane wanted to take care of more koi.

The faint sound of people practicing martial arts caught the attention of Ranma's keen hearing sense, he could detect that a group of people were engaging in a series of exercises in the dojo.

That's nice, he thought. He assumed that Akane and Ryoga had started advertising about martial arts classes, and the people in the dojo right now were probably their students. He idly wondered how many students the couple had enrolled under their wing...

"Hmm, it wouldn't hurt to hang around," he said to himself.

Ranma walked over to the dojo's entrance in the rear of the Tendo compound, and he was impressed with the complete revamp of the entire building. New doors, completely renovated walls, a couple of new signs, newly molded steps, and new lighting sparkled the place.

He peeked through the sliding door, and held his breath as he saw Akane in the front of the class, pacing back and forth, observing her students. She had her eyes narrowed down, and she wore her traditional yellow gi. She eyed something in what appeared to be a completely new room built in to connect with the dojo, and walked inside of it.

This is a good time to go inside, Ranma thought. Perhaps he could give her a surprise when she walked back out.

On the other end, Akane went into the newly made study that was used by her and Ryoga to manage the dojo. She was busy helping Ryoga prepare the schedule calendar handouts for next month. She didn't notice behind her back that Ranma had slid the door open and entered.

The class didn't stop in their exercises, which Ranma approved of. They were well disciplined, the most they did was give a glance at him and they returned to their katas or stretches. He gave a general overlook of the entire class, there couldn't be more than 15 or so people

"Hmm. Not bad," Ranma said to himself. He noticed a girl walking towards him, she looked like a college student. She had a black belt, and by the way she carried herself arrogantly and with smooth stride, he assumed that she was probably one of the leaders here.

"Hello, may I help you? I'm the sensei's assistant."

Ranma was pleasantly surprised. A girl was the top dog here?

"What is this group doing at the moment?" Ranma asked.

"We're about to get into some sparring exercises, before Akane and Ryoga sensei start out the lessons," she replied.

Oh? This would be interesting to watch, he thought. "Do you mind if I observe while I wait? I'm actually here to see the instructors."

"Um, I guess. But please do not distract the students," she told him.

Ranma smirked at that. Young and arrogant, but most importantly she was confident just like he used to be. By the way her muscles were formed and how she moved around, from first impressions she seemed to be a decent martial artist. But he set that aside, and looked upon the other students.

A lot of them were in their teens and probably half of them attended Furinkan High School. He could recognize a couple of the teens who were in the other classes at Furinkan. No one recognized him.

Ranma walked up to a pair of black belt students who were sparring enthusiastically, neither side holding back. They threw fancy kicks and punches, as well as flipping around back and forth. The small amount of aerial combat that he saw was a trademark of the Musabetsu Kakuto Ryuu, but Ranma frowned at it. All that wasted movement was wasted energy.

"Hey, you two."

The two sparring students whom Ranma laid eyes on stopped, and stared at him. "Are you talking to us?" they both asked.

"Yeah. I couldn't help but notice all that wasteful maneuvering you two were inflicting upon each other. I know it's probably part of the martial arts style you're taught here, but in a real fight it isn't really worth all your energy. And I know that at this point, you two are way past learning about discipline and all that other martial arts mayhem, so you can concentrate on fighting."

The two nodded in interest, and listened to what Ranma had to say. He showed them a couple of stances and movements, jabbing his fists like a boxer with quick and powerful strokes. He explained various different things to them, and they were actually good listeners and followed with him. Ranma approved of the fact that they fought each other without holding back, giving full on punches to the face and giving strikes to vital points on the body. Bringing on the pain was the only way to learn.

Unbeknownst to Ranma, Akane peeked out from the corner of her office to see a pigtailed man who was talking to one of her students. She was surprised to see him here, in the middle of her class. Akane didn't utter a word, instead she observed him as he taught something to two of her students. She smiled as he saw him perform a couple of quick lightning fast jabs with his fists, fascinating the two. She decided to stay where she was to see what he would do.

The head girl who first talked to Ranma noticed this, and angrily stomped over to Ranma. He saw her from the corner of his eye.

"Excuse me, but why are you distracting my class?" She had a frown on her face and her forehead was creased. The glare of her almond shaped brown eyes could melt the steel locks off a bank vault.

Her firm hold genuinely impressed Ranma. He turned his head. "I was just giving them a short lesson on fighting. How you should actually concentrate on boxing and grappling to knock down your opponent and beat the shit out of them."

"We do only what Tendo-sensei and Hibiki-sensei say, and they work. Please don't tell us what works and what doesn't in our own dojo," she growled angrily. She didn't want to get in trouble by Ryoga-sensei, who was very explicit in instructing her to keep discipline in the room and distractions out. That, and her deep sense of pride she harbored for two of her role models.

"Whoa there, no need to get all frisky. I was just giving out a few pointers here," Ranma smiled.

She smacked her lips with a shake of her head. "We don't mind visitors during our training sessions, but distracting and butting in to our ways is pushing it. How am I supposed to know you're trying to teach another person a bunch of bull?"

Ranma gave her a skeptical frown. "Oh come on, do you really think you're that good? How about a short match against me? Right here, in the middle of the dojo." Ranma resisted the temptation to smack her upside the head. "You're top dog here right? How about we put the lessons of your teachers to the test."

Aha, a challenge to one of her students? Akane's smile grew even bigger. Mayaka Hiramatsu was her best student and pretty much an assistant instructor for simple stuff when either she or Ryoga wasn't present. Now she was going to face off against Ranma, whom probably none of them even recognized.

The room cleared, and the students formed a circle, leaving Ranma and Mayaka facing each other in the middle. Mayaka chose a basic Kempo stance, while Ranma had his fists held up comfortably like a boxer just a little below his cheeks.

At this moment, Ryoga had come behind Akane and saw from where she was to see his students circled around Mayaka and another challenger, who was... Ranma?!

"What the-" Ryoga growled.

Akane held him back, and put her index finger against his lips. "Quiet, Ryoga. Leave Ranma alone for now. I wanna see what he does," she told him.

Ryoga breathed a sigh and listened to her. After all, he had promised not to do anything irrational without consulting her first.

The two stepped closer to each other, only an arm's length away with one of the students standing nearby as a referee.

Mayaka smirked. This inexperienced moron, she thought. His fighting stance is ridiculous. I'll mop the floor with his ass, she thou-

As soon as the makeshift ref yelled "fight!", Ranma jabbed Mayaka's throat with his right fist in an incredibly fast blur. He didn't even give her the chance to react. Her head was knocked back, disorienting her. In a blind panic she croaked and grabbed her throat, leaving her open to a final blow from Ranma to her ribcage.

The class stood silent in awe and disbelief. Their class leader just got her ass kicked in what seemed to be a fraction of a second, by some stranger whom they didn't even know.

Akane and Ryoga stared in shock at the silent mass, their jaws hanging down. Both were unable to comprehend what they had just seen with their own eyes. Did Ranma just strike down a girl just now? In his male form, nonetheless?!

The downed martial artist moaned in pain on the ground, she had fallen down like a chopped log and her years of martial arts conditioning and instinct had not kicked in to help break the fall. Instead she felt like someone had snapped her airway shut although she was still breathing and the back of her head was in pain.

She saw a hand in front of her, beckoning her to grab it so that she could get back on her feet. She looked up and saw the pigtailed man who'd just defeated her before the ref had even finished saying the word "fight" completely.

"You're a good kid, you've got the potential to become great. But one thing you must learn is the ability to glean from other people, to potentially see what you can learn from others and have an open mind."

Mayaka grabbed Ranma's hand and pulled herself up. She rubbed her jaw and ran her hand down her neck, which didn't hurt much anymore. "That was cheap!"

"A throat shot?" Ranma raised his eyebrows. "If I recall correctly you're a student in 'Anything Goes', are you not? I would say it's cheap if it was mainstream Karate."

She paused for a moment and then nodded, and gave a resigned bow and thanked him. "I guess I wasn't as good as I thought."

"I guess you thought you were too good," Ranma replied. It was a shame that Ranma didn't really test her for her true ability, he was just focusing on taking her out as fast as possible without injury.

"All right, all right, that's enough!" roared Ryoga from behind. He had Akane right behind him.

The entire class, including Mayaka, scrambled to get into two rows in front of Ryoga and Akane. "Hai, sensei!" they all said in unison.

Ranma blinked. He'd forgotten about Ryoga being here too. He suspected that both him and Akane had been watching the quick match. "Well, hello there, fellas."

Akane stood silent, and Ryoga stared at him.

"What the hell are you doing here, Saotome?" Ryoga asked calmly.

The entire class mumbled. Saotome? Where had they heard that name before? It sounded very familiar...

Ranma let out a small sigh, and looked him in the eye. "I just happened to be in town, and I figured it'd be nice if I stopped by and maybe talk things out with you and Akane. You know, maybe we can hang out or something tonight."

Before Ryoga could retort, Akane whispered something in his ear. "Come on Ryo-chan, he sounds pretty sincere to me. You PROMISED me that you wouldn't do anything irrational. You remember that. I feel really nervous too, but Ranma took a chance by coming here to meet us. The least we can do is talk with him."

Ryoga had no choice but to listen to his wife. He grumbled slightly and gestured to Mayaka to come over to him.

"Yes, Hibiki-sensei?" Mayaka answered.

He tsked at her. "I'm disappointed with you, Hiramatsu. I saw that match just now. How is it that Ranma over there took you down in less than a second? You can't even last one whole second?" he asked incredulously.

All of the students, including Mayaka, gasped. "Ranma Saotome? He's THE Ranma Saotome?" Mayaka turned around to face Ranma in disbelief.

The pigtailed boy scratched the back of his head, shying away from the looks of the students.

"Good god! No wonder he's so good!" Mayaka exclaimed.

Ranma blinked at this. He hadn't been back to this dojo in over four years, and he hadn't been up and around in Nerima for over seven years. How was it possible that these youngsters knew about him? He certainly wasn't one who advertised himself from place to place. He was actually pretty contained within Nerima, other than the folks at Furinkan and the NWC knowing him.

A bunch of eager eyes were fixed upon him as the students barely kept themselves in control from asking Ranma a bunch of questions.

Ryoga took control of the class again. "He's not that great. I was his rival during our teen years," Ryoga said. He faced Ranma with a smirk, showing off his fangs. "I can still take you on, Ranma."

Ranma lifted his eyebrows. "Uh, yeah. That didn't happen the last time we had a little scuffle," Ranma said sarcastically.

This caused the bandanna wearing martial artist to flush red, more in embarrassment than anger. "Alright then. Me and you, right here, in the middle of the dojo. No ki attacks, no bullshit, just plain skill versus skill. Do you accept?"

"Do chickens cluck?" Ranma replied back with a quick remark. He got in a basic Kempo stance.

Ryoga did the same, although his mind was still trying to process Ranma's comeback. "Hyaaah!!!"

Ryoga executed a powerful sidekick aimed at Ranma's chest and missed, Ranma simply dodged it by swiveling his body quicker than the eye could see and gave a sharp downward kick to Ryoga's ankle, causing him to fall down in pain.

"Argh!" Ryoga grabbed his pained ankle for a moment on the ground and grit his teeth. He jumped right back up in a fighting stance.

"Come on, Ryoga. You should know better than to leave yourself wide open like that," Ranma tsked.

The bandanna wearing teacher smirked. That was actually pretty quick, Ryoga thought. He decided to go against Ranma with some more skill.

"I'll get you, Ranma. You'll see." Ryoga smirked. He dashed in quick with a flurry of punches.

The class stood amazed at both martial artists, none of them had ever seen Hibiki-sensei fight this well. But what seemed even more amazing was Ranma, the famed martial artists that Tendo-sensei always used to mention and tell stories of.

Right now Ranma was blocking and countering every attack Ryoga was throwing at him with calculated precision and ferocity.

After barely dodging a swing from Ryoga that was powerful enough to slice a person's body in half, Ranma decided he'd had enough of this. He threw a left hook right into the center of Ryoga's chest and gave a three hit combo attack to his Adam's apple, between his eyes, and a shiatsu jab to his left thigh which paralyzed his leg muscles temporarily. This all happened very quickly, leaving Ryoga crumpled over like a dead leaf, his throat swollen in pain and disabling him from making any cries of anguish. He finally coughed a few times, waving away a worried Akane who wanted to help him. He had to rub out his thigh to get rid of the numbing.

"Had enough yet?" Ranma asked.

"Heh," Ryoga chuckled. He stood up and looked at Ranma with a smirk. His eyes seemed to be on fire. "That was really good, especially your impeccable control with shiatsu attacks. I guess I can stop holding back now, and go all out on you."

Ranma raised his eyes in pleasant surprise. He was holding back? That's actually quite impressive, P-chan, Ranma thought.

Ryoga took off his black t-shirt and stretched for a quick second. The female students in the room swooned slightly at their teacher, he was actually quite handsome and a major hunk. A lot of them had held a crush on Ryoga for awhile, and it was rare when they got to see him like this.

The pigtailed boy looked at his opponent, wondering what the hell Ryoga would try on him next. By the looks of his physical condition Ryoga had become a bit broader than before, and his muscles much more defined. Maybe it was his imagination, but it looked as if Ryoga had done a bit of bodybuilding. Perhaps that was why Ryoga seemed to be slower than he used to be. Either that or Ranma was too skilled for him now.

He almost laughed at the whole scene.

"For crying out loud..." Ranma chuckled sarcastically. "Do you really think just taking off your top is gonna make you better or something?"

Ryoga turned a bit red at that, feeling stupid now that he thought about it. He could've just continued fighting him without taking off his shirt. Why did he have to take it off anyway? He decided he watched one too many martial arts movies in his spare time.

"Come on, Mr. College graduate, let's see how good you really are," Ryoga taunted.

"Hmph." Ranma wore a neutral mask, with no sign of an aural presence surrounding his body. It was as if he was trying to cover up his ki, although not completely. Only a fine tuned martial artist like Ryoga (and not even Akane) could detect the very light signature of it.

He figured out his current tactic. Ryoga eyed his opponent up and down in a one quick blink. It looked like Ranma was going to give out strength in short bursts, revealing it only in a movement of offense, in an effort to test out the boundaries of his opponent. Ryoga had to be careful, he figured if he could get through Ranma's defense once, he'd be able to grapple him and pummel him down.

The two looked at each other for a brief moment, and in an instant Ryoga made his move.

"!" Ranma's eyes widened as he saw Ryoga jumping in front of him and sending a punch towards his gut at blinding speed. He was fighting at a speed that was almost three times faster than before.

Ranma barely had time to curse himself for underestimating his long time rival as he grunted in pain, the force of the blow wheezing the air out of his lungs.

Ryoga immediately followed up with a powerful head butt and dropped to tackle his opponent. Ranma, dazed and disoriented, was put on his back by Ryoga as he charged forwards with his legs.

With quick reflex Ranma's right leg kicked up and flexed all the way to the back of Ryoga's head, striking him painfully. Ryoga immediately rolled off of Ranma and swung a powerful punch to the side of his head as he barreled off.

Adrenaline-fueled primal rage took over Ranma's fighting instinct as he felt a sharp pain blow through the side of his head, he flipped wildly on the floor and his legs started swinging.

The watching students watched excitedly as the fight in front of them blew up like gasoline poured into a campfire. They were a little confused as to what Ranma was doing at the moment; it looked as if he was break dancing on the floor of the dojo, doing a wild windmill.

A spinning leg caught Ryoga by surprise, smack dab in the middle of his rib cage, reeling him backwards. Ranma spun himself upright and planted his feet on the floor, only to have a fist rammed into his jaw by Ryoga.

The punch managed to blur Ranma's vision because of Ryoga's fierce strength, but it didn't disorient him enough for a counter. That punch had been Ryoga's trump card, a knockout blow. Ranma gave him an equally strong Judo clothesline hook and knocked him hard onto the wooden deck.

Ranma's fist fired down and stopped just an inch before Ryoga's nose.

"Checkmate."

"Damn," Ryoga muttered, clearly defeated. He pushed off Ranma and brushed himself off.

The pigtailed boy rubbed the side of his head where Ryoga had struck him. There was no visible bruise though, it was all covered by his hair. His jaw was perfectly unharmed.

Ryoga smiled inwardly. At least he'd given Ranma a run for his money this time, instead of being taken by surprise like the last time they had a confrontation.

Despite the match, the entire atmosphere felt a lot lighter and both Ranma and Ryoga were feeling a bit less hostile to each other. The students were clapping in amazement at the incredibly spirited bout; it was a quick, brutal, and honest, no holds barred, down to earth, one on one fighting. They'd all heard the stories, the rumors, and the myths about the original successor to the art. Their own sensei, Ryoga Hibiki, was no match for the real heir to the Musabetsu Kakutou Ryuu, Ranma Saotome.

Akane was flattered with the show of skill that her own husband and ex-fian---Ranma displayed. To her observant eye, she could tell that Ranma had been street fighting for quite some time, just by analyzing his simplified yet extremely effective fighting style. There were still parts of Anything Goes present in his form, but the windmill counter-attack he pulled off with his legs was quite a sight to behold. At first it seemed like flailing panic, but it was an effectively distracting emergency maneuver. There was no wasted energy in all of his strikes.

"Alright now, Ranma. Why are you here?" Ryoga asked him again. He grabbed

his shirt from the ground and put it back on.

Ranma on the other hand was taking off his long sleeved blue shirt, folding it and cradling it in his arm. "I already told you. I just want to talk with you guys. Settle some things you know, maybe we all can have a drink together."

"Settle things?" Akane prodded. "You mean you want to talk out some stuff among us?"

"Yeah," he nodded. "Maybe we can go to a bar or something. Or a yatai."

"Akane-chan and I don't really drink, Saotome," Ryoga replied.

"Don't worry," he snorted. Fucking prick. "Any place is cool, it's fine with me wherever we go."

The dojo students were murmuring among themselves at their surprise guest and were too caught up in their own fascination to realize they were standing around doing nothing.

"Okay, okay. That's enough," Akane said to her class. She pointed Ryoga to the house and motioned for him to wait for her in the living room. She called upon Mayaka to supervise the class. "Alright students. Just for today, you get self instruction. Make sure to listen to whatever Hiramitsu has to tell you."

"Hai!" the class barked in unison. The proceeded to continue to spar against each other and do their own katas. Some of them were already practicing to imitate Ranma's moves.

Akane tugged at Ranma's sleeve. "Come on in, we'll go have a seat in the living room."

He nodded, and followed her into the house. A wave of uneasiness swept past him, he had to remember that it had been about four years since he'd been back in here. The place he used to call home now felt distant to him. Each step of the hardwood floor felt colder, the decor less comforting, and the atmosphere definitely less welcoming.

To say that a part of him was a bit anxious about being with Akane and Ryoga would've been an understatement, two people he'd sworn to never associate with again, long ago. He made his way into the living room, what used to be his favorite place to lounge around, awaiting a cup of tea from Akane.

That left Ryoga and Ranma in the room, both were shifting restlessly in their awkward situation.

"How is your arm?" Ranma asked, breaking the ice. He berated himself for his choice of words, there were a million other questions he could've asked, why the fuck did he choose that one?

Ryoga responded harshly, as expected. "It's already healed," he spat.

A stiff drink couldn't hurt right now, Ranma thought, gulping. "I didn't mean it that way, Ryoga. I didn't want to hurt you that day, you know. I was there at Ucchan's that day because I needed to talk to her about some important matters. I was actually hoping that I would be able to completely avoid all of you guys that day, and leave you two to your peace. I guess I'm sorry for all this mess, so far." There, I hope that's a good start to apologizing Ranma thought to himself.

Ryoga was surprised, Ranma had been trying to avoid him? He was willing to forgive the pigtailed boy since his own wife had requested it, but still felt wary of it. Those files that Nabiki had shown him and Akane. Those pictures, the videos, the files. Did the Ranma in front of him really kill all those people and go through all those things? He was definitely not the same old Ranma they had all once knew, but it made Ryoga wonder. Was he still *Ranma*? Or was he a killing maniac?

Bah. He shouldn't worry about this right now. He'd evaluate him at face value, not from shadowy pasts.

Tea sure seemed to take forever to prepare, especially when silence was the one thing that made him anxious at the moment, Ranma thought. He nervously tapped the floor audibly with his fingers, observing some of the new interior décor that Akane probably arranged.

"So, Ryoga. How long have you two started teaching in the dojo?"

Ryoga glanced at Ranma from the corner of his eye. "About three years now," he replied. "Business started off quite well. There was interest pouring in with people who had seen us fighting and they wanted to learn how to do martial arts like us."

That was the typical answer he'd expected. Ranma expected nothing less of the two. Knowing Ryoga's ambitious nature, he knew that the two would live a happy, picture perfect life. From the looks of it, they seemed quite happy with each other too.

"How's everyone else, Ryoga? Anything change much in the past couple of years? I met Ukyou on the way here, you know. She was riding a motorcycle and told me that you were the one who taught her how to ride." Ranma chuckled. "Shit, times sure do change," he said wistfully.

Ryoga blinked. Oh yeah, he was the only one who didn't know about his bike. Everyone else here did. "Yeah, I got her into riding a couple of years ago. I actually started off right after you left again for the US. It was sort of a spontaneous thing. I was talking to a couple of drifters, the convinced me to take one ride around the block. After that I got hooked. I learned quick, went to a couple of classes, and bam. That's it."

"Oh, that's cool," Ranma replied lamely.

"How was police life over in America?"

Ranma looked up, his eyes wandering. "Don't have much to say, really. It's tough out there. You see a lot of grim stuff. Things not many people want to see."

"Ah," Ryoga tried to chuckle nervously. "I guess it was hard living?"

"Hmm?" Ranma thought back for a moment. The heart pounding arrests. The thrilling car chases. The adrenaline pumping shootouts. "It certainly kept me tough and right on the fucking edge."

Ryoga raised his eyebrow at Ranma.

"Uh..." Whoops, Ranma thought. His mind had been blocking out certain other memories that he didn't want to recall, as a result he forgot to keep his tongue in check.

"Did your choice of vocabulary change as well during your new life?" Ryoga smirked.

He resisted the urge to reply with a glare. "Old habits die hard," Ranma sighed.

Another uncomfortable silence went by as the two men couldn't seem to find anything on their minds to talk about.

Luckily Akane came back in with some cups of hot barley tea. She handed one to Ranma.

"Here you go."

"Thanks," he replied. He took a sip. It was surprisingly good, and he nodded in appreciation. He was glad that Akane's bad kitchen skills were only a childhood fluke. A sudden gurgle in his stomach made his eyes narrow. Maybe not.

Akane sat down after she handed her own husband a cup. "I'm really glad we're actually getting a chance to talk again after last time," she softly said.

Ranma shrugged, feeling a little bit embarrassed. "I didn't want to have bad blood between us forever. We're too old for that now."

"That's good," Akane smiled. It was pleasant to know that Ranma was at least reasonable enough to tackle any problems he had instead of pining over them.

"So, you guys want to head out? Let's go to eat something," Ranma suggested.

Akane gathered the cups back onto a tray and stood to carry it back to the kitchen. "Sure, we'll do that."

Ryoga shrugged and stood up as well. "Where should we go?"

"How about the Nekohanten? I feel like some Chinese food," Akane perked from the kitchen.

"Uh..." Ranma looked hesitant.

"All right, honey," Ryoga replied back to his wife. "Come on, Ranma. Let's leave.

Ranma was starting to have second thoughts now, going to Shampoo's and facing her and her grandmother wasn't on his itinerary for the day. "Uh, who's gonna watch the dojo and the students?" he nervously asked.

Akane came back into the room. "Don't worry, dad is here. I'm going to change real quick, wait up for me, ok?"

"Your dad?" Ranma gulped. He'd forgotten that Soun was still here. Even though he'd had a very brief stint with him the first day he'd come back, Ranma wasn't quite sure how Soun would react to seeing him again...

From the shadows a sliding door opened and there entered Soun, in his usual brown tunic and his usual tobacco pipe in his mouth. Soun stopped in his tracks, looking at Ranma, who was staring right back. Ranma couldn't help but wonder, Soun and his own father didn't look any older than they had nine years ago for some peculiar reason.

"Hello, Mr. Tendo," Ranma greeted, albeit with an awkward expression. He waved his hand at him, although the awkward motion was like that of a robot.

Soun Tendo stopped in his tracks, his eyes resembling that of a deer caught in a truck's headlights. He exhaled a puff of smoke that he didn't know he was holding. "Um...hello, Ranma-kun."

Ranma tried to hide a sad frown, he knew Mr. Tendo was ashamed and full of remorse because of what had happened between Akane and him, although it really wasn't his fault. Ranma knew that and told that to him four years ago. Apparently the guilt hadn't gone away like he had hoped. "Come on Mr. Tendo, there's no need to act that way around me."

"You've really become a fine young man," Soun smiled. He walked up to Ranma, pipe still stuck in his mouth between the molars, and grabbed his broad shoulders. He gave him a hearty pat.

When Soun let go of his shoulders Ranma had small smile on his face. "I just want to tell you firsthand that I'm not angry anymore about the past. I came here to try to start over with a clean slate, maybe revive a life in Japan that I tried to kill off years ago. Although that tangle at Ucchan's was sort of a huge misunderstanding."

Soun fervently shook his head. "No, no! Don't worry about that at all. No one is blaming you for it. I sure as hell am not. Ryoga and Akane were the only ones who were upset because you broke Ryoga-kun's arm, and Kasumi was a little worried when you disabled her husband," he said. "But don't worry about me!" he quickly corrected. "I wasn't upset at all, I understand COMPLETELY why you got mad."

"Umm..." Ranma didn't know what to say to that, although he detected a hint of bullshit blowing in the breeze. "Uh, yeah..." Something popped into his head though. "By the way, Mr. Tendo. Do you know if Akane or Ryoga called my mom about that incident at the restaurant?"

"Hmm? No, the kids didn't do that. I believe it was Shampoo's grandmother. She was seething mad when you left and everyone stayed away from her. She was upset about you threatening to kill her," Soun told him.

Comprehension dawned on him. "Oh..." Ranma replied. I guess I took it a little to far with Cologne, he thought to himself. "That's what my mother must have been mad about, and why she didn't tell me specifically."

"Well, anyway. It's been good talking to you again, Ranma. I'm going to head to the lawn and read my newspapers with my pipe."

"I'm gonna head off too, with Ryoga and Akane," Ranma said.

"That's good, that's good. I'm thankful you're all getting along again." Soun walked out to the front lawn, and out of Ranma's view.

Ranma heard Akane greet her dad as she walked her way over to him.

"Hey Akane, do you mind if I bring someone along?" Ranma asked her.

"Who is it?" she asked. "Ukyou?"

Erk. He almost forgot about her. "Well, actually I was going to call my partner."

"Um, sure. Why not. I'll tell Ryoga and we'll all head out," Akane said. She turned around and hopped up the stairs.

He didn't know why, but looking at her just now, smiling and running up those stairs all giddily... It burned a hole in his heart that he'd tried to extinguish long ago.

What the hell am I moping over her for, he cursed at himself. She's not mine anymore and I left it that way without trying to change it.

He took a deep breath and sighed it out. He took out his mobile phone and called Jackson thru a speed dial.

The call went through. "Lo'?" a male voice answered in English.

"Jackson, is that you?"

"Oh, hey Cap'n."

"Where are you right now?" Ranma asked.

"I'm actually at the JNSA, doing some research and a lil' bit of paperwork. Oh, by the way, I got everything you asked for."

"That's great. Are you doing anything right now?"

"Well, not really. I was thinking of going to an SDF training ground, maybe train myself."

"Oh come on, Jackson. That was just your first time out in a situation like that. Don't worry too much about it, I oughta tell you how I reacted my first time. And besides, I want to go to that training site you are talking about too. I'm not too familiar with all the law enforcement around here."

"Oy, I've gone through MANY more field deployments than you might think," Jackson chuckled on the other end of the line. "No problem, Cap'n. I'll be looking forward to going to the training grounds with you."

"Good. Now what was I gonna ask you about?" Ranma scratched his head then snapped his finger. "Oh yeah. I was going to go out to dinner with a couple of old friends, here in Nerima. Do you want to join me?"

"What?" Jackson asked, confused. "I don't know..."

"Come on, come with us. You're my partner, and besides you don't have anything to do."

Jackson winced to himself, his social life wasn't really much to talk about. "Oh, fine. I'll come with you. How do I get there?" Jackson asked.

"Err, that is..." Ranma stopped short. "You got me there. I have no idea how to guide you here."

"Hmm...let's see. Are you on your cell phone, by the way?"

"Yeah, I am." Ranma raised one of his eyebrows. "Why?"

"Oh, don't worry about it then. If you go through the menu setting and get into the security settings, you can turn on a signal beacon. Just do that and I'll come to you."

"Oh, ok." Ranma did as Jackson said, and sure enough the phone's LCD screen blinked for a few seconds. "All right, I think it's on. Just get here as soon as you can."

"All right, Cap'n. I'll be there." The phone clicked off signaling the end of the transmission.

Ranma clicked the "End" button on his phone as well. He took out the small business card Ukyou had given him earlier. He pondered whether he should call her or not.

"Nah. I shouldn't call her. I promised her that I'd have an evening just between the two of us." He pocketed the card and went to the living room, where Ryoga and Akane seemed to be sitting at the table watching the news on the TV.

Akane turned her head and saw Ranma. "Oh, hey Ranma. Is Ukyou or your friend going to be joining us?" she asked.

"My partner Jackson is going to be here soon, but Ukyou won't be coming with us." Ranma replied.

"Oh, ok," she said. Akane turned her head back to the TV screen. "Wow, that's really scary. Can you believe that Ryo-chan? Two suspected drug dealers shot to death in their cars, and a Yakuza lawyer who was gutted in an alley. I can't believe something like this would happen in Nerima!" she exclaimed.

"Un," Ryoga grunted with a grim nod.

The news anchor in his dull black suit and striped necktie gave his boring, unenthusiastic and unnaturally serious news report of the incident. Ranma missed the interesting news broadcasts that SoCal had, with all the jokes the anchors gave to each other along with tiny little commentaries to liven up the show.

"Here's what we have so far, ladies and gentleman. Bokutou Police Department traffic officers were alerted of the shooting late last night, tenants in the nearby apartments had complained of explosions on the street, although there were no eye-witnesses to the brutal slayings. So far, this is what we've acquired from police statements. The drug dealers were shot to death while they were inside their BMW. There were multiple bullet casings around the vehicle, however the police have stated that there were a couple of dozen bullet holes found in the bodies, car, and surrounding buildings. Bokutou Station Traffic Division commander Arizuka issued a statement this morning announcing that the case was given to National Police detectives, and that Bokutou detectives are also aiding in the investigation."

"Yeah, that's quite something isn't it?" Ranma said, scratching his chin. "Right here in Nerima too." Assholes. Sell coke and china in my hometown, will ya?

The reporter continued. "The other homicide is a mysterious one near the Bokutou district around a popular bar and karaoke area. Well known Oroshi-family lawyer, 43 year old Shichiro, Nanbara was found murdered in an alley. Eyewitnesses say they found him eviscerated at the abdomen. Shichiro was the notorious and well publicized criminal-attorney of the Oroshi-family crime syndicate, perhaps even suspected himself of illegal crimes in Tokyo, Osaka, and Okayama. The police gave preliminary speculation that these murders do not seem linked, although there are no leads as to who the suspects are. We will report back to you about this story when more developments are maid. This is ---"

Ryoga turned the TV off with the remote control and stretched his back, yawning. "You wouldn't think something like this would ever happen in a quiet place like Nerima," Ryoga said.

"Yeah," Akane joined him. "I guess it's just a fluke."

Ranma butted in. "You'd be surprised how much crime there is around you. Nerima has had a large increase in criminal activity and the establishment of a drug trade." What was surprising however was how the hit on the BMW was actually in front of a crack lab. There was more than enough evidence that crystal meth was being pushed in powerful quantities at an alarmingly increasing rate, introducing volatile and explosively addictive crack cocaine would cause some major inner city turmoil. There were enough base chasers in the world.

"What are you talking about?" Ryoga said, looking at him skeptically. "This is a nice neighborhood, we've all been here for years. And I sure as hell know for sure that none of my students are using that stuff."

Ranma clicked his tongue, shaking his head. "I'm a cop, Ryoga. I know this stuff. Hell, right before I came here I caught two teenagers trying to sneak off some alcohol right across from the Tendo Compound. It's not really a big deal, but little things happen. This place isn't as concentrated with crime as Los Angeles, let's say. But there's still some crime around here."

Ryoga's head started to ring inside with his words. He'd almost forgotten that the former rival in front of him had supposedly gone to a cesspool and back. "I guess. I'm sure you've seen a lot of that, huh?"

Ranma turned to look at Ryoga with a blank face. He hesitated for a moment. "Yeah, I have. Lots of stuff. I was a robbery homicide detective for several stations before I was posted into a permanent section." He looked thoughtful for a moment.

"Um, that sounds interesting," Akane feebly said.

"It was. There's always something new to do every single day," Ranma replied. "It's really amazing what you can discover and the things you can learn by studying criminals." Ranma looked to his side and saw Ryoga eyeing him.

"You interested in something, Ryoga?" Ranma asked.

Ryoga blinked in surprise and shook his head. "No, I was just looking at your gun. I've never seen one before," he said. "Not that I'd ever have to use one," he sneered.

Ranma curled his lip at Ryoga's comment and reached down for his Beretta. He removed the magazine from the handle well and pulled back the slide while switching down the ambidextrous firing-pin block safety that was on the rear of the slide. The single round in the open slide chamber flew out with great force thanks to an enlarged extractor. Ranma pulled the slide by the serrations a couple of times to make sure there was no round, and he visually and physically checked the chamber with his finger as an extra (and muscle memory induced, from thousands of repetition of pistol manipulation) precaution. He finally firmly locked the slide in place by engaging the slide stop on the left side.

"Here you go," Ranma said, handing the pistol to Ryoga. "Beretta 92FS 9mm, 15 rounds in the mag, one up the pipe, and an internal laser sight."

"Hmm," Ryoga hummed in interest. He took the pistol and felt it in his hand. It didn't feel very natural, actually. It was as light as a feather, for something that was made out of steel and sent out controlled explosions. But then again this was the first time Ryoga had ever held let alone seen a real gun. Who was he to judge how good it is, anyway?

"Don't put your finger on the trigger, keep your index finger extended against the side, and don't ever point that at a person, loaded or unloaded," Ranma instructed him.

"Oh, okay," Ryoga said, a little irritated by Ranma giving him orders.

"Wow, that's the real thing, isn't it?" Akane said as she stood up to join the two men. "So that thing shoots out real bullets, just like you see in movies?"

"Yeah," Ranma replied. "It's dangerous if you don't know what you're doing, but it's okay for you two to just take a look at it since I'm here."

For the next thirty or so minutes Ranma explained to them how the gun worked and the different techniques to utilizing one. He field stripped it in front of them, demonstrating how it could be taken apart with one hand with good handling if a situation called for it. Along the way they exchanged some pep talk as well, talking about the different students of the dojo and some of the championship tournaments the students took place in.

Ryoga stood up while they idly chatted about how Dr. Tofu was, and how upset Kasumi had been when Ranma knocked him out last time they met. Ranma was quick to apologize and was genuinely sorry about it.

"I'm going to take a bath and get ready, just give me like ten minutes," Ryoga said aloud as he walked upstairs.

Akane and Ranma were left alone, and for a few seconds they averted their eyes uncomfortably. It seemed the second they were left on their own the moderately comfortable old friendship they had been reliving together was stripped away. Akane shifted in her seat, and thought of something to say.

"S-so, what kind of friends did you have in America," she asked, clearing her throat at the same time.

"Hmm?" Ranma stared at her for a few seconds, making her very uncomfortable. But a smile slowly crept onto his face as he realized he hadn't though much about the people he left behind since he came to Japan.

"I made a lot of wonderful friends, a lot of them were cops like me. Some of 'em are a little crazy, and I told my co-workers at the last minute so they wouldn't pine over me and take me out on some crazy night out that would've gotten me into trouble." He sighed and gave a quick chuckle to himself.

"You have any best friends?"

"My co-workers and boss were some of my closest friends. All of them have stuck their neck out for me time and time again and we regarded ourselves like true comrades. In the manliest way you can imagine too I guess," he laughed. "Especially if you know me."

Akane chuckled, and her uneasiness melted away as it had regretfully been all too long since Ranma had any sort of meaningful conversation with her.

"There is one guy though, his name is John. Same name as one of my co-workers, but this guy was Korean. I went to school with him, you know. One year older than me."

"Ah, I remember you telling me about him." Akane nodded, remembering him as a guy who Ranma described as a party animal in all of his emails and phone calls.

"Oh yeah. I did, didn't I? He was my roommate through most of college, and one of the first friends I made."

"John Lee, wasn't it?"

Ranma whistled. "Wow, you actually remember all that huh?" Ranma said with a sarcastic tone, causing Akane to shift again uncomfortably. "But then again, he has the most generic Asian-American name you could come up with, so it's not too hard. Yeah, he was also the one I talked to when I went back and he helped me set up for a job in the force. He was the only guy I really talked to and had a farewell with before I came back to Japan."

"Ara, sou..." Akane mumbled. She wondered if she should press on with his past, even though she already knew some devastatingly important details.

"So, did you meet anyone special there? No relationships?" Her tone sounded innocent enough.

"I had one serious relationship," Ranma was quick to respond. His steel-blue eyes dimmed slightly, however.

Akane was pleasantly surprised by his candid reaction, although she didn't show it. She'd asked the question just to test his emotional state. "Oh, really? Who was she?"

"It didn't work out like I'd hoped, just like the rest of my life," he said tartly, shrugging.

His cynical and cold reply took her aback, and she reached for his arm. "Ranma, I didn't mean..."

Ranma rejected her sympathy. "Quit it Akane, you don't need to apologize to me like that."

Akane frowned. "It's been seven years since we've had a normal conversation with each other in person, Ranma. You don't need to be so cold."

"I'm not trying to be a jerk, Akane," Ranma replied, the irritation in his voice growing. "You're right, that's seven years. Seven years of an uncertain history that dwells upon both of us. You ever stop to think of it like that?"

"Yes, it's been long." Akane folded her hands on top of her lap. "But I was hoping you'd gotten over it by now. Things have changed. But I still have some affection for you. You know it, and I know it."

Akane reached over and went behind Ranma's back to wrap her arms around his neck, her head resting against his. Ranma went tense, but he was having trouble getting the words out of his mouth, his emotions struggling with past jealousy and the bitter aftertaste of being betrayed.

"Don't do this, Akane. Please, get off of me."

"I know I'm married now. But we're still friends, aren't we? We had our share of good times."

"Please. Don't do this to me." He sounded like he was pleading.

"Don't shun me away like that," she replied, still enveloping her pigtailed ex.

Ranma shut his eyes tightly and breathed in and out, controlling his temper. "You cheated on me, Akane," he said quietly.

He didn't hear a response, and Akane was on his back completely still. "In those three years, I didn't go out sleeping with random women and lead secret romances behind your back. And when I come home no one tells me a damn thing and I find out that you're in love with someone else, Akane. How could you...how DARE you say something like that, saying that I should've gotten over it?"

"Ranma..." Akane struggled for the right words to say. The old Ranma was not a confrontational man when expressing his emotions, this definitely caught her off guard.

"I'm not back to ruin your life or scramble things up just to spite you guys out of your new lives. You guys look like you have a good life and things are going well. I'm not gonna fuck that up."

Akane's impatience started to creep up on her. "Alright, I get it Ranma. I understand what you're saying, but it doesn't mean you have to shove me away like I'm some common hussy." She hugged him tighter. "You're so different now, it's hard to tell anymore who I'm talking to."

"Alright?" Ranma's body was even more tense. "It's NOT alright, Akane. And I don't think you understand what I'm saying. It's not like it used to be, Akane. Goddamnit, don't you see that?" He brushed off Akane's arms and stood up.

"It's never going to be the same again, Akane. You have the gall to say I'm so different? Of course I'm different, I spent the last four years of my life starting fresh and getting my life back on track!" Ranma's lips quivered, and he was close to choking back tears.

Similar sentiments were passing through Akane's mind as well. She had little to be sad for, and it seemed Ranma was brimming.

"So different that you can't even return some friendly affection to me?" Akane said, reaching to grab his hand.

"Don't fucking touch me!"

"Wha-" She didn't even have the reaction time to be shocked.

"You're Ryoga's wife! Any relation I have with you now is strictly platonic, nothing else. I don't like you fucking hugging me or touching my arm or anything else. I've gotten way over it and I ain't dealing with it!"

She tried to say something back, but her lips were frozen and her legs numb to do anything but just sit there, catatonic.

Ranma continued to glare at her, his teeth visibly grinding, and he averted his gaze straight to the floor. His cheeks were crimson with shame. The spirits he drank earlier certainly didn't help. Four years of pent up jealousy and wrath proved to be too much.

Thankfully Ryoga came down the stairs oblivious to what had just happened. He had a towel draped around his head from a fresh shower. Before they knew it, they heard a knock at the door.

"Who is it?" Ryoga called out. He walked to the genkan, making sure to watch exactly where he was going, since his home was one of the few places he had painstakingly managed to learn not to get lost in.

"Um, is Ranma Saotome here? He told me to meet him at a friend's house."

"Come on in, Ranma is in the living room." He wasn't too good at greetings, so he just kept it simple and with as little awkwardness as possible.

Jackson followed Ryoga to the living room, where he saw Ranma and a very pretty short haired girl next to him. Although Ranma looked like he was blushing and the girl liked ashen.

"Here he is. C'mere Jackson. You sure got here pretty fast." Ranma gestured him over to Akane and Ryoga. He acted like the past few minutes had never happened. "This is Ryoga and Akane Hibiki, although Akane here goes by her maiden name, Tendo, for her martial arts school." He gestured to Jackson for Akane and Ryoga. "You two, this is Jackson Samamoto. He's my partner; I met him just yesterday."

"Hi," they all greeted each other.

Ryoga yawned again as he stretched his arms, his motorcycle keys dangling from his hand. "So we're going to the Nekohanten right?"

Ranma's neck tingled slightly. "Um, Shampoo and Cologne are still there, aren't they?" he asked. Well of course they were, he'd seen both of them the first day he'd come to Japan, not to mention Mr. Tendo had mentioned them as well.

"Yeah, they are," Ryoga replied. He came back from a closet with his helmet.

Erk, Ranma thought to himself. He was going to have to faces the old crone and Shampoo sooner or later. He'd barely made up with Ryoga, started static with Akane. He might as well go against the Amazons as well. Feeling almost hopeless, he mentally sighed. He figured he was going to drink himself to a stupor tonight, first chance he got.

"All right, let's go," Ranma said. He elbow tapped Jackson. "You drove my car here, right?"

"Yeah, I picked it up this morning."

The four headed out, Ryoga went to the shed and unlocked a large padlock that bolted the large door shut almost airtight. It was dimly lit inside, even with the daylight, but Ranma could see that there were a couple of bikes inside. A loud whirring sound filled the air as a V-twin engine was revved and started, Ryoga rolled out on a black Aprilia Tuono naked bike. Akane hopped on the rear seat, clasping Ryoga from behind. She already had on her own helmet, which was similar to Ryoga's, except with a different color scheme. If Ranma had known better, he would've asked how Ryoga was able to afford an overpriced Italian motorcycle.

"We'll meet you two there!" Akane yelled at them as Ryoga revved the fuel injected bike.

"You remember how to get there, right?" Ryoga said as he fastened and secured his helmet.

"Yeah, I do. See you there," Ranma replied.

The couple rode out the gate and sped down the street, leaving Ranma alone with Jackson.

The two walked outside to the Mitsubishi, with Ranma closing up the front gates. Jackson lifted up the wagon hatch and opened up a large duffel bag.

"You asked for a better conceal carry handgun, right? I got something that's practical here..." Jackson pulled out a sharp and handsome dark blued finished pistol. "This is a customized full framed 1911 in .357 Sig, 10 in the mag, plus one for the chute."

"A 9mm* 1911?" Ranma took the pistol. "Not bad, it fits perfectly in my hand and it's not too heavy, not too light." He looked at the fine pistol in appreciation. He released the single stack clip and observed it, seating it back in place.

*.357 Sig actually is technically a "9mm" round...

"That's a really good pistol. I had a friend who had an old Colt Commander in standard .45 imported to France, he used it as his own carry pistol and did a couple of modifications for easier concealment. Thanks to our in house gunsmith lab, I got the pistol worked on just this morning for some final touches. The stock pipe was swapped out for a match grade barrel with a threaded muzzle to attach a suppressor. I believe the one on your Beretta should work on this one."

"Yeah, it does fit," Ranma said, screwing on the black suppressor can. "Man, that was a mouthful. What other bells and whistles does this one gun have?"

Jackson chuckled. "It's a really special one off that just happened to be sitting in the vault. The original manufacturer of this gun is a gunsmith in Arizona who handcrafted it and fit everything together using a forged Caspian slide and receiver as a base. There's a lot of other work done to it to make the action smoother and more reliable, it's melted down on all the edges so that it's easier to carry concealed. There isn't a single sharp edge on the pistol, if you check."

"You're right," Ranma said, amazed.

"One thing you have to remember is that it's a single action pistol, so carry it cocked and locked. It's a lot flatter for carry while retaining a full size barrel. I got four extra mags to go along with the one already inside the pistol.

Ranma racked the slide to make sure it was empty and returned it to battery, the hammer cocked back and ready. The quality of this pistol was outstanding. The slide moved and reciprocated as smooth as an ice cube gliding on a hot blacktop and was mated to the frame to close tolerances to eliminate any loose slop or failed locking. This gun functioned with a thumb operated safety on the top of the grip for instant and intuitive operation. It was a gun carried with the hammer cocked back at all times with a live round in the chamber and the thumb safety engaged until the pistol was drawn for use.

"Good job, Jackson." Ranma nodded. He clicked off the safety and squeezed off the trigger on the dry chamber. The precise mechanism clicked with the clean clack of metal-on-metal and broke at a crisp four pound pull that felt like a fine glass rod breaking. "Perfect. This is just what I need. Let's get going, I'll pick out the rest of the stuff inside the car. You're driving."

"All right, Cap'n," Jackson replied, getting into the driver's seat.

------------

"Incredible," Ranma nodded his head appreciatively. "This is the latest vest on the market today?"

"Yeah," Jackson said. "I just found out about it myself. Comfy, isn't it?"

"Sure is," Ranma said. He tapped his chest, it didn't have the usual, thick and hard feeling from the usual ballistic vests he wore. This one was as thin as a regular t-shirt, and just as comfortable too.

"It's also ventilated, that's awesome. It's really comfortable."

"It has the same protection as our regular level 2 vests," Jackson said. "I got one on too."

Ranma was currently checking out yet another pistol that Jackson had gotten him, a backup weapon, actually. A small 5-shot Smith and Wesson model 340PD J-frame with a tiny snubbed barrel, just like the one he used to have in LA. This one was a newer and updated model though, chambered in a more powerful .357 Magnum and made out of a metal called scandium to significantly decrease the weight. The higher powered round of the .357 was definitely not a plinker for a snubbie, but since it was an emergency backup weapon shooting comfort and recoil wasn't a factor. He placed it back snugly into his back pocket. "All of these have been broken in, right?"

"That's what I heard. All newly issued firearms have been cycled 500 times and inspected," Jackson said.

Ranma nodded to that. He wouldn't have minded shooting his 1911, but breaking in the snubbie would've been a pain in the ass. He took out his Beretta from its holster, which was sitting on his lap and removed from his belt. It was a good gun, really. But with Washu's tinkering and the original bulkiness of it, it just wasn't right for him anymore. He needed absolute concealment around here, where guns are a rarity, even for police. The recoilless, practically weightless, and unlimited ammo pistol was just a little too weird for him. But he had to admit, the bottomless clips made it a formidable weapon in any circumstance. It'd serve as a good backup gun for later, he thought to himself. Maybe he'd take it back to Washu to add back some of the recoil and weight. The 1911 proved to be a considerable improvement despite being a full sized pistol much to his approval when he holstered it inside his pants. The bobtail on the rear of the handle allowed the gun to disappear almost completely under even a light t-shirt.

"Take another right," Ranma instructed Jackson. He took out the Beretta's silencer from another pocket and screwed it onto the threads of the Beretta. After unscrewing it he tried it out on his new piece, and to his satisfaction it bolted on perfectly. He placed his featherweight Beretta inside the glove box for now and holstered his 1911 and pocketed the can. Fiddling with mechanical things brought a smile to his face.

"Yo, Jackson. Let me see your piece," Ranma asked.

"Sure, go right ahead." Jackson drew his Walther PPK/S from a holster that was snugly clipped inside of the waistband of his pants.

"This thing is pretty tidy," Ranma said, observing it. He noticed that Jackson had taken the time to take it back to the armory to get some custom work of his own done, the front sight was replaced by a glowing fiber optic low-mount blade with a set of tactical Novaks on the rear, the hammer was now spur-less and bobbed to get rid of the sharp excess, and the trigger reach was shortened and tuned for accurate and quicker acquisition. "Nice and small, very concealable. Only thing I don't like is the caliber. A .380 is a bit too weak for me."

"That was my personally carry side arm in the French Army. It's actually a redesigned model from the classic PPK. It's an excellent handgun," Jackson replied.

"I'm sure it is, but still," Ranma trailed off, frowning slightly. "It's only a .380." He couldn't help but think of it as a little girl's gun.

"If I put two bullets into your heart and one in the head, you wouldn't know the difference. Neither will the enemy."

It was hard to disagree with that statement, if you had the skill to pull it off that is. He should have known better himself than to question the ability of a weapon's caliber. Shot placement was the key. "You must be a good shot. Let's head to a range tomorrow or the day after. That Bokutou Police Station had a shooting gallery downstairs," Ranma said.

"I don't know about going back there, but yeah we'll be betting some money on it too. Is this the place?" Jackson asked, stopping the car. Akane and Ryoga were at the entrance, they'd arrived there about 10 minutes before.

"Yeah, let's go," Ranma replied.

The four walked in the restaurant, it was a Friday evening and business seemed to be bustling. The place wasn't completely packed, since it wasn't the peak dinner rush quite yet, but it looked like Shampoo and Mousse seemed to have their hands full.

Shampoo came up to them to greet them and stopped as she looked at Ranma, her eyes opened wide.

"Uh, hello Ranma." Shampoo was at a loss for words.

"Hey, Shampoo," he replied back in the same manner.

"Come, have a seat all of you. I'll be with you in a moment," Shampoo quickly said, scurrying off hastily.

The group sat down at a large roundtable that was close to the kitchen. Each person grabbed a menu that had been placed on the table and searched for an entree to eat.

Ranma looked around. The Nekohanten sure had changed just like Ucchan's restaurant had but without the expansion. It seemed the Amazons decided to go a little more upscale, the interior décor was more luxurious and the menus themselves were greatly expanded with a bigger variety of dishes to choose from. Another welcome addition was a small bar in the corner of the restaurant.

He also noticed that there were several more workers here as well, all of them women. They were aesthetically pleasing to look at and had vibrant colorful hair. He assumed they were most likely Amazons that Cologne had brought over from China.

After a few minutes Shampoo joined the table and sat next to Akane in the roundtable. A different waitress from the kitchen came to the table to take everyone's orders.

"Shrimp fried rice."

"The House Specialty Ramen, please."

"Sweet and sour soup."

"A plate of Gyoza and a bottle of Tsingtao*, please."

Akane, Ryoga, and Shampoo looked at Ranma when he gave his order.

*Tsingtao is a Chinese beer.

"Hmm? What's the matter?" Ranma asked, looking around.

"It's not that, I just didn't know you were a drinker," Ryoga said.

"Yeah, I thought you said you weren't going to poison your body with it when you were a teenager," Akane joined.

Ranma shrugged. "I guess I got used to it in college."

Jackson looked at the fully stocked shelves of liquor and the taps over at the bar. "I'll have a Heineken Draft with my fried rice, please."

The waitress took down the order and nodded, she gave a quick friendly smile and scurried over to the kitchen.

"You've got a few new workers here, don't you?" Ranma asked.

"Yep, sure are. My grandmother allowed a couple of the most gifted Amazons in the village to come study abroad. They all go to the same community college as me and Mousse," Shampoo said. "We give them free room and board in return for part time work in the restaurant.

"Really?" Ranma blinked. "I was wondering why you were speaking a lot better in Japanese." He frowned. "But you were speaking the same way you used to a couple of weeks ago at Ucchan's place, what gives?"

"Oh, that?" Shampoo chuckled, embarrassed. "When I panic I sometimes get mixed up and speak funny."

"Even though that was something you trained for, the discipline of staying calm and in control during a time of crisis," a voice from behind said.

He didn't need to turn to look, Ranma knew who that voice belonged to.

"Well, well, Ranma. Did you stop by to reminisce with your past?" Cologne said, scorn written all over her face.

Oh boy. The last thing he needed was to have the old crone breathing down his neck, looking for vengeance.

Ranma turned his chair to face the Amazon elder. "Look, I didn't come here looking for trouble, me and my partner here just came to have a nice meal. Whatever it is you're brooding about, let's drop it."

"Let's drop it?" Cologne hopped onto Ranma's lap and pointed a bony finger at Ranma's face. "Do you think I'm going to take a death threat from you lightly?"

Whoops. Ranma forgot about that. "Heheh," he tried to chuckle it off. "I was just feeling a little bit cranky that day, that's all. I didn't mean any harm."

Ryoga's face turned red. "Feeling a little bit cranky? And you broke my arm over that? Mean no harm my ass!"

"Uh..." Ranma chuckled again, nervously. "That's was just a little mix up, that's all. Come on Cologne, I haven't been up and around Nerima in nearly seven years, just give me a break, ok? I'm sorry about lashing out at you back then."

"Hmm." Cologne jumped off and looked at him. She was sort of taken aback, actually. Ranma wasn't the type who'd apologize that easily. But, it wouldn't look respectful of her to antagonize someone who'd apologized to her so openly. "I'll be keeping a close eye on you. And from now on, I suggest you watch your mouth."

"Ha. Whatever you say." He turned back to the table just in time to be served his food.

"It's interesting to see that some parts of you still haven't changed," Cologne commented as she walked back into the kitchen.

Ranma drank his beer straight from the bottle. "Yeah, and I back it up too."

"Ranma, why did you come by?"

"Huh?" Ranma looked over to Shampoo. "Why do you ask?"

"You disappear without a trace for four years, your parents refused to tell us where you were, telling us only that you went to America, and now you're here almost like you dropped from the sky." Shampoo brushed a hand through her hair and arched her eyebrows at Ranma. "You know how much I've thought about you while you were gone?"

"Don't tell me you're still going to chase me around?"

Shampoo glared at him and then smacked him upside the head. "I'm not a teenager anymore."

Ranma rubbed his head in surprise. "Well, that's good to hear. I came back because... I could."

"What's that supposed to mean?" Akane asked.

"Like I said to you guys before, this job was offered, and I took it. It was a chance to be in Japan again, and... I don't know. I just want to try living here again for a change." Ranma took another drink.

"Are you working on anything in particular right now?" Ryoga asked.

Jackson slipped him a look from the corner of his eye and subtly shook his head no to Ranma. No one else noticed.

"No, nothing really. We're just roaming free and helping out local police with some of their more difficult problems," Ranma said.

The rest of the meal went by peacefully, with most of the talking done by Ranma. They spent their time leisurely, no one felt rushed and even Ranma and Akane managed to forget their anxiety with each other for a while. He shared details of his college life and snippets of his career as an officer. Any tension between Ranma and Akane was well concealed, as both knew it wasn't to anyone's advantage to add Ryoga into the fire. A phone called from Akane's cell phone cut the evening short.

"Sorry, but Ryoga and I have to leave early. We have a special advanced class that we teach once a week in the evening," Akane apologized.

"What do you guys teach?" Jackson asked, curious.

"We teach advanced ki manipulation and offensive attack. I also teach them practical street fighting skills too," Ryoga said. "Only a few students are allowed."

Ranma got up from his seat. "You two go on ahead then, I'll pick up the tab."

"Aya, don't worry about it. It's on the house," Shampoo chirped.

"You sure about that? I'll pay, it's not a problem." Ranma reached for his wallet.

Shampoo waved her hands. "No, I insist."

Akane grabbed her helmet and coat. "We'll meet some other time. Come over more often now, OK??" Her acting skills were up to par with the phony warmth.

"Yeah, I'll see what I can do," he replied, not missing a beat.

Ryoga had a blank expression on his face and just patted his hair. "I'll be seeing you again, Saotome." His voice wasn't hostile but didn't sound too welcoming either. The corner of his lip twitched lightly in distaste.

Ranma watched the two walk out, and soon heard the sound of a motorcycle starting up again with that unmistakable growl of a V-twin engine.

"Shampoo, me and Jackson will be going now. I'll see you again, ok? Bye."

Shampoo was helping the waitress clean up the dishes on the roundtable; she wiped off her hands with a clean rag and hurried over to Ranma and Jackson before they left.

"Thanks for the delicious meal, Miss. We really appreciate it," Jackson said.

"Just make sure to come back and eat here again, our food is the best," she chirped happily.

"Yeah, thanks for the meal. I really enjoyed eating here after all that time away, and the food tastes better than ever," Ranma said.

"You have seven years of uneaten meals that you have to catch up on, so make sure to visit more often," Shampoo replied with a smile.

"Before I go, could you do me a favor?"

Shampoo blinked. "What is it?"

"Make sure to tell your great grandmother that I'm not here to start a commotion with her, and that I'd greatly appreciate it if she'd not go after me in a fit... I have some important things to do while I'm here. Like you said, we're not teenagers," Ranma said.

Shampoo looked confused. "Ok, I'll make sure she gets that. Sayonara."

"Un."

Jackson and Ranma left the restaurant with their goodbyes and got into their car. This time it was the pigtailed boy's turn to drive. He cranked over the motor and revved it loudly, putting the stick into first. He failed to mention to his partner that the few beers he had in the restaurant wasn't the only alcohol he'd consumed all day.

"So, how do you know Ms. Shampoo?"

Ranma turned his head. "Shampoo? She used to be an old acquaintance. Her nutty great grandmother actually wanted to have us married."

Jackson blinked. "Wow, no shit? She's pretty damn fine."

"You like her? Try challenging her into a fight, you might get the chance to have her," Ranma replied, laughing. "They have this law saying that any male outsider who beats an Amazon gets to marry the female they defeat."

Jackson laughed. "No way, are_you_serious?" he said, amazed.

"I fell under that trap, and I refused to marry her and caused quite a few complications with her and her grandmother." Ranma bit his lower lip. "It looks like Shampoo has gotten over it. I'm not too sure about the old crone. But if she DOES get in my way, I'm just going to snap her in half."

"That's real nice of you. But thanks for the offer, by the way, but I'm not going to jump in head first like that in hookin' up with a chick," Jackson said, shaking his head.

"You got a good head on those shoulders."

"So, you were very close to those other two, right? Akane and Ryoga?"

Ranma nodded. "Yeah, very close. I used to live there, when I was a teenager."

"Oh?" Jackson nodded his head a couple of times. He tilted his head to the side, looking at Ranma. "Are you and Ryoga good friends?"

Pause. "......" He cleared his throat. "To tell you the truth, we don't have the greatest history together."

"I see." He nodded again. "That Ryoga guy is sort of a prick, isn't he?"

Ranma glanced at him. He turned his head swiftly to acknowledge Jackson.

"I was getting some bad vibes from him. You know, that unwelcome feeling you can't really pinpoint but you know its there?"

"Hai, hai, hai. You've got me, partner. Ryoga is one huge walking asshole. We might've been trying to act friendly, but I still haven't forgiven him fully for what he's done to me." Ranma chuckled. "You're not too far off yourself, you're sort of a prick too."

"Give me a break, I got caught up in glorifying myself as the top dog until you came along," Jackson scoffed, a grin forming.

The two agents continued to drive around, Ranma was planning to head back to his temporary apartment, but as he turned a right on one of the streets he saw Ukyou's restaurant. He'd almost forgotten that he was going to give Ucchan a call for the night.

Ranma bumped Jackson with his left elbow. "Hey, did you have enough to drink, or do you want to get plastered some more?" Ranma asked, grinning.

"Hmm, I don't know. I'd definitely wouldn't mind having some more to drink, but I have to go back to the MaxFor office and take care of the shootout we had yesterday. The police are asking quite a few questions and they're getting into a frenzy over it."

"Yeah, I'm not surprised. Last time some of the people in that area have handled a gun fight the Yakuza were still brandishing relic firearms from the second world war."

"You're lucky the National Police Agency has its puppets with the NSA controlling the strings."

"Specialists like us need someone to pull some strings to make our job work."

Jackson huffed. "By the way, thanks a lot for murdering the only surviving suspect from the shootout. I know that was you who hung that guy, it wasn't a suicide. Bokutou police are going nuts over it. They haven't had so much activity in one night in years."

"Yeah, no shit. I bet that station's NEVER been that lively. I interrogated him and forced out what was needed. Supposed he was still alive," Ranma suggested. "When he gets out he would've been whacked by his own employers for spilling out important business information. Trust me on this one man, I know something about how they work. I gave him a merciful death."

"And how do you know that would've been the outcome? You don't suppose he would've been allowed to live? No offense man, but you're a fucking asshole," Jackson irritably replied. It seemed illogical that Ranma could've come up with that conclusion. Jackson took this job knowing there would be shady aspects to this and as part of his oath during employment he also agreed to keep his mouth shut and comply. However he still felt the need to question what his morals compelled him to act upon.

Ranma parked the car to the side of the road and turned to give Jackson his full attention. "When you deal with anyone this serious, you don't leave anything to chance, my friend. Who knows if they're merciful or ruthless, that's not up to us to choose. It is what it is," Ranma said calmly. His eyes narrowed. "I'm not taking any chances with my life, or yours for that matter. The Yakuza, their process of thinking is different. The way they do things are based off of solid principles. Family syndicates like these believe in honor, loyalty, and the code of silence. Breaking this code is like breaking the harmony of your family. And to them, that is the same as bestowing death upon yourself."

"I wasn't saying that what you did was unnecessary, but you could've chosen an alternative," Jackson replied, still frustrated over the matter at hand.

Ranma scoffed, and narrowed his eyes at Jackson, shaking his head. "Of course there's an alternative, there's always an alternative. I got my fucking demons too, Jackson. I grit my teeth as I forced my hand on that poor bastard, but I did what I did because I knew doing this righteously will only cause problems later that I'd rather not even fathom dealing with. Some choices aren't as nice as others, but in the end, you have to remember to watch your own back too. Check your own fucking six."

Jackson thought about that for a second. "That piece of shit probably would've come back to find us sooner or later," he realized.

"You're damn right about that too. And I've had it happen to me before," Ranma sighed. "I'm not going to patronize you and delve into my fucking sob stories. Give em' a lifeline, they try to take yours later." He even had the scars to prove it.

"I still think you're a freakin' spook."

"At least I don't freeze up with my dick in my hands," he shot back.

"That was a one time thing, I swear to fuckin' god that'll never happen again. That I promise you."

Both men stared each other square in the eye. Neither faltered. The silence was ear piercing.

"Good to hear that." Ranma turned off the motor and got out of the car. "I'm going to meet an old friend of mine and hang out for the night. Could you do another errand for me?"

Jackson got out of his own seat and got into the driver side. "What is it?"

"I need another car, something inconspicuous but fast." He thought for a moment. "An automatic transmission too."

"What?" You already have that big American truck! What do you need another one for?"

"You can't use it for undercover use! Just try to pull a few strings for me and see if it's possible."

"I'm betting it's not going to happen. But I'll try anyway," Jackson replied as he closed the door. "Oh yeah, don't forget this." Jackson tossed him the Beretta that was in the glove box.

Ranma tossed it back. "Careful with that, you asshole. People might see. Drop it off at my safehouse. Put the safety on and drop it in the mailbox, it'll be safe."

"See you later. By the way, make sure you turn your cellphone's radio mode on to silent alert, the Commander wants us on immediate response around the clock." He snicked the shift lever into first and drove back onto the street.

"Last chance man, you don't want to have a drink with me? I got some more hot friends you might like."

"I would if I could but duty calls, Captain." His face did light up though at the mention of women.

Ranma tsked in disappoint. "I guess you gotta do what you gotta do. And stop calling me 'Captain', Jackson. Ranma's fine."

With a quick nod, Jackson waved and took off. As the turbocharged wagon sped away Ranma's nose was greeted with the smell of the rich burnt gasoline from the exhaust pipes. He started walking towards Ucchan's Okonomiyaki and slowly the engine fumes drifted away and were replaced by the delicious scents of oden, takoyaki, yakitori and other various foods coming from the street vendors.

By late evening the streets had begun to fill up with salary men who'd just come off the subway from work and were now on their way walking back home. Also flocking their way towards the business district were plenty of teenagers and young adults in the 18-25 year age group looking for some fun as well, it was a Friday night after all. The yatais on the street were also serving alcohol to those who wanted it, and many did, unable to resist a quick drink. Much to his amusement Ranma noticed that a couple of night clubs had opened farther down the street, the neon sights were plenty bright and clear to see even in the setting sun. Beyond the cart vendors and the fast food places he noticed from before, it looked like Nerima had formed itself a trendy promenade.

Ranma passed through all of them and walked into Ucchan's Okonomiyaki, which was filled to the brim with customers. There were even some patio tables and chairs outside that were occupied with patrons.

"Ucchan!" he yelled out for his friend. "You around?"

"Back of the line buddy," some guy said, standing next to a petite young woman who was probably his girlfriend. "There are other people here who came before you who haven't even been written down for a seat yet by the host. Yelling out for the owner's name isn't going to help you."

"Hey Ukyou, where are you?" Ranma walked around to see if Ucchan was handling the grill.

To his surprise, Ukyou wasn't cooking. There was another chef, several of them actually, surrounded inside the grilling zone. Ukyou was talking to various patrons in the restaurant going from various table to table.

"Ranchan!" She spotted him immediately. "Hold on just a moment, okay? I'll be right with you."

Ranma nodded his head. He looked back and saw the guy who had chided him earlier, who looked embarrassed to even show his face.

"Hey there, buddy." Ukyou came up with her hands behind her back and got up to Ranma's face and gave him a huge smile. "What can I do for you, sir?" she playfully asked.

"I'd like to have a certain lovely brunette accompany for the evening on a date that had been promised earlier."

Ukyou beamed. "That can certainly be arranged, just let me take the order to chef!" She went to the host who was busy moving around leading people to their tables and came back. "Ok, looks like my employees have everything covered for the dinner rush, there shouldn't be too much of a mess when I come back later or tomorrow. Are we going anywhere in particular?"

Tomorrow? "Probably just somewhere around here," he mused. "Hey Ucchan, do you drink at all?"

"I can hold my liquor," she replied and nodded. "Let me go change real quick and I'll be back, okay?"

"Look for me outside, I'll be waiting."

The light outside gradually getting dimmed as Ranma walked out of the restaurant. He watched the crowds bustling inside the restaurant and the passing pedestrians. Random puffs of cigarette smoke that lingered his way tingled all the way down to his lungs, and he suddenly felt the overwhelming urge to light one himself. Random cravings like this were as irritating as an itchy bug bite. He saw the dark night creeping along slowly, welcoming all those who would be around to enjoy it.

Nighttime felt very soothing. Things were a little quieter without rush hour traffic bogging up all around, but instead ambient noise was filled with the chatter of people walking along the streets. The atmosphere was cooler, much more relaxed. It didn't take too long for to Ukyou come out from a different door on the side of the restaurant, one that was connected to the living quarters. She was wearing white tennis shoes and some board shorts that came down just above her knees and a skin tight spaghetti strap top that showed quite a bit of amply packed cleavage and toned abs. Her white bra straps could be seen inline with the spaghetti straps. She still had the same old red ribbon that she wore on the right side of her head.

"Whoa, I've never seen you dressed like that before." She looked very... American. And attractive.

Ukyou smirked. "The surfer girl look is a trendy style. And besides, I have a few more hobbies that I still haven't told you about. I actually go surfing and boogie boarding when I have the free time. I'll tell you more about it, let's start walking."

He felt like a frog had jumped into his throat. "You're into surfing?" Ranma exclaimed. Ukyou was full of surprises today. "I didn't even know they had surfing spots in Japan. How do you even get to the beach from here?"

"Oh, come on," she pouted cutely. "It's been four years since we've last stayed in touch, Ranchan. I have a surprising amount of spare time on my hands since I've decided against a mad spree of expanding my restaurants." She counted off her fingers. "I've had a few boyfriends, my restaurants don't occupy all of my time anymore, I choose to work only when I WANT to work, plenty of time to travel. And... ah, yes. No fiancée fiascos with Shampoo, Kodachi, or Akane." She winked at the last one.

Boyfriends? I guess she did move on with her life, he thought. "But surfing? How did you get into surfing?" he asked, perplexed.

Ukyou laughed out loud, recalling some fun memories. "Oh, where do I begin? Let me tell you about this place by the beach called Hinata-sou, a couple of years ago I was riding on my old motorcycle traveling......"

***

April 20th, 2001.

Bokutou-sho Police Precinct – Tokyo, Japan. 8:28 PM.

"You girls look exhausted, you must be going through hell."

Miyuki looked up, her eyes starting to show a little red and the rest of her features definitely looking fatigued. "It's no problem Tokuno-san, it's nothing Natsumi and I haven't handled."

Tokuno looked up from his desk and frowned. "You two went through what most cops never even get the chance to experience in a lifetime. I'm amazed you're holding up this well, even with what happened less than a day ago."

"It's been a horrible day," Natsumi sighed, standing next to Miyuki.

"Yes it has," Tokuno agreed. "And it doesn't look like its going to get any better."

"What does that mean, Tokuno-san?" Miyuki frowned.

"This added work load with the triple homicide was a hot topic today for both me, the section chief, and Inspector Arizuka. I suggested that instead of letting HQ detectives come take over, I would head the investigation instead."

"What the hell?" Natsumi looked skeptical. "Well, what about those two detectives yesterday?"

Tokuno looked up. "You mean the men who rescued you?"

"Yes," Miyuki said softly. She took out an object from her pocket and rolled it around her fingers.

"What is that?"

She held it with her thumb and index finger. "It's a deformed bullet. Detective Sakamichi plucked it from his armor vest and gave it to me. Told me it was a souvenir."

"About that Sakamichi character-"

Natsumi interrupted him. "He was a strange fellow. don't you think so, Miyuki?"

"They looked really young to be detectives," Miyuki replied. Not that young detectives were impossible to find throughout the National Police chain, but they were seldom enough to identify easily by name alone. "The one with the pigtail, Sakamichi, moved like a bolt of lightning. I've never seen anyone move so fast."

Tokuno cleared his throat a couple of times to get their attention again. "Well, about that Sakamichi... The chief and I were talking about him with Arizuka and he told me he'd never heard of him. Or his partner."

An awkward silence took over in the room.

"Tokuno-san, what do you mean?" Natsumi spoke out.

He shook his head. "No, it's just I'm saying none of us have ever heard of them. Even when I'm carrying a firearm I usually just have an old revolver loaded with blanks for the first two rounds. From what you guys told the chief and I they were carrying something that no investigator has even access to. And I know you're good with details, Kobayakawa. But it's not like they're imposters either, the media blackout that ensued was ordered by them and followed as instructed. And that supposed 'suicide' of our only prisoner from last night's incident is suspicious too. All the detectives were ordered strictly not to pursue it even though there is the notion of a struggle involved. One of his hands was crushed. And this order came straight from the top brass too. But don't get me wrong, they're not bad guys. They're definitely on our side."

Miyuki frowned. Now that she thought of it, she had not verified their identification adequately. All she saw was a flash of a badge and a car that definitely looked the part of an undercover police vehicle. Part of it was sloppiness on her part; Natsumi at least questioned them whilst she had not done much at all.

"You'd have to be pretty high up the ladder to pull off something of that scale. There is one other possibility though," Tokuno muttered, a finger on his lips. "They could be from another government agency."

"Ara?" Natsumi blinked. "You mean like from another country or like those spy movies?"

Tokuno chuckled. "No, no. It could be from the NSA, something like that."

Miyuki perked up. "NSA?" She'd read up and seen on the news just like many other Japanese citizens about the newly formed organization in the Japanese government. A few years ago it had been heavily criticized as a costly project. However it still appealed to people in that Japan would finally have a real intelligence infrastructure that was capable of independent operation, not a diplomatic one in which the US monopolized.

"No, it's nothing. Just reminded me of a rumor that I overheard from the higher ups a couple of weeks ago. It's not something I should really talk about," he told them. "I've got something else for you two though."

"Hai," the two responded. Miyuki reluctantly shot down the temptation to ask the investigator about the rumor he had heard. Perhaps she could find out for herself later.

"Since this precinct's detectives are going to be fully immersed in this homicide case, we're definitely overloaded with things to do. I was thinking about appointing you two to take over the car theft case. We barely started on that case ourselves, so you'll have the freedom to do what you feel is needed without our supervision."

"You want the traffic division to take over a case from the Robbery-Homicide Bureau?" Natsumi beamed, clearly excited.

"It's a special case, this is one of the most sensational cases in years, let alone being a triple homicide. We have to devote all our efforts into this one thing."

"We'll be glad to take it," Miyuki told him. "The traffic division will do its best."

"I just feel bad for working you two girls," he sighed. "But there's no one better around."

"We'd be honored to help," Natsumi told him with a weary yet wide smile.

"Good, I'll tell the chief immediately and have jurisdiction handed over to you. Make sure to pick a couple of other officers to help you as well."

"Hai!" both chirped.

***

April 20th, 2001.

Masaki Residence – Okayama, Japan. 8:32 PM.

"Thanks for letting us use your hot tub, we really appreciate it," Kiyone said, toweling her hair.

"No problem," Tenchi replied. "How did you guys get back from Tokyo so fast?"

"Mihoshi came by with Yukinojo, there was a couple of things that I forgot down here and I sure as hell wasn't going to drive the whole way," the teal haired beauty replied.

From above the rafters of the living room, Ryoko gracefully phased into view and floated down to the couch. She threw something at Kiyone. "Here, have one."

She caught the beer can right above her head and popped the tab. "Thanks, Ryoko."

"No problem at all, detective." Ryoko took a sip of her own beer in her hand. "Where's Mihoshi, by the way?"

Kiyone sighed. "She's still in the bath playing with Sasami and Ryo-ohki. I'm not going to be here for long, I have to be back in Tokyo by tomorrow morning."

Tenchi fell back on his couch and sighed in relaxed contention. "Must be a nice change for you, Kiyone?"

She nodded. "I'm glad I'm moving around again and doing something that requires more than a pulse."

"I sort of want to go to college there," Tenchi said, smiling sheepishly. "I'd like to see what a urban lifestyle would be like."

"I like Okayama better. Tokyo's just bigger and with more glitter," Kiyone shook her head. "Too many damn people around in a big damn hurry."

The newly installed air conditioning system that Washu had made generated on with a gentle whir and immediately circulated cool air in the living room. Funny, Kiyone thought. There were no vents anywhere?

Ayeka came out of the kitchen carrying a tray of yakitori and soda cans. "It's been way too humid these days, help yourself to some refreshments."

"Thanks, Ayeka." Kiyone shook her can of beer, but she grabbed a stick of the chicken and focused back on Tenchi. "Besides, Tenchi. Tokyo University is extremely difficult from what I heard, even without the capped entrance allowance."

The unoccupied couch perpendicular to the one Kiyone and Tenchi were sitting suddenly warped out of shape and a black portal opened up revealing vibrant red hair with a shape that resembled a crab. "Aha, but with a little help from me and his brains will be more than enough to qualify for such a university," Washu chirped. She hopped out and grabbed a soda from Ayeka's tray.

"I don't want to worry about it right now, I'll rest for a year and check my options then."

Washu shrugged. "Take your time." She looked over to Kiyone. "So, how's that new friend of yours doing?"

Kiyone blinked. She looked around for a moment and cursed to herself. It seemed like the entire household had been waiting to ask her about Ranma.

"What do you mean how he's doing? He's a busy guy," she quickly said.

"Is that so?" Washu grinned, laughing mischievously. "I bet you work a lot together, ne?"

Everyone had expected her to blush, but she seemed to be frowning instead.

"Oy, what's the matter?" Ryoko asked from above.

"Well, we do work a lot, and we're working undercover as partners..." Everyone nodded, listening intently. "But there's something peculiar about him. I can't put my finger on it exactly, but his whole personality just seems...grim."

"That hardly describes the way he seemed when he visited us," Ayeka said.

"Yeah, Ranma looked real happy to me," Ryoko voice lofted from above. She gracefully floated down and sat next to the teal haired GP officer. "And handsome too." She winked. "VERY handsome."

"Are you guys going out yet?" Sasami asked, sparkles glimmering in her eyes.

---------

"Achooo!"

"Something tickle your nose?" Ukyou asked.

"No," Ranma sniffled. He continued walking. "Must be the spring air."

---------

"No, no! Nothing like that yet. He's just a friend and like a co-worker right now." Kiyone tried to hide a blush. "All I'm saying is he has a different side to him." She thought for a moment and looked down at her chapped knuckles and callus fingers, from years of hands on law enforcement. Her right knuckles had quickly healed from their recent use for interrogation. "He's a tough cop, no doubt about that." She suspected he was more than tough, he seemed to hide a brutal and sadistic side as well.

"Kiyone's master plan is to get laid."

All eyes focused on the source of the voice, who was still patting her damp hair with a towel. "Mihoshi!" they all yelled at her at the same time.

"I'm gonna strangle you-you!!" Kiyone leapt after her, with a sour look on her face.

"I'm just kidding!" Mihoshi winked as well, mischievously.

Tenchi could only watch as chaos consumed the household. It was going to be a long night cleaning everything up.

"The more things change..." he sighed.

The teal haired girl finally gave up chasing Mihoshi, who tripped a few seconds later anyway and landed right on her face.

"I'll get you back later Mihoshi," she sighed. "Ryoko, do you have any more beer?"

Ryoko phased to her spot on the rafters and teleported back down, a cold can of Asahi in her hand. "There you go, detective."

"Thanks." She sat back down on the couch and relaxed, her legs crossed. "Mihoshi, let's head back at 9:30, I want to stop by my apartment real quick and pick up some clothes, then we'll head back to Tokyo."

"Aw-white," Mihoshi said nasally, her face and nose still in pain from falling.

***

April 20th, 2001.

Club Internacionale United – Nerima, Japan. 9:55 PM.

"All right everyone, get your groove on! Here's Dr. Dre comin' right at 'ya with your DJ, Lyrics Born!"

The DJ up in the mini tower was busting out with his fluent English getting the crowd on the dance floor riled up, most of them didn't even understand what it meant but to them it didn't matter. The DJ crossfaded out of the previous song and spliced in a rap song called "Bitch Please" by Dr. Dre. The rhythmic and ground thumping bass immediately had everyone on the floor dancing to it enthusiastically, with patrons bumping and grinding to the beat.

"I had to see it to believe it," Ranma said, shaking his head in amazement.

Ranma and Ukyou sat at the bar, and a very fancy one at that. It was built away from the dance floor and tables. The place was actually perfectly occupied; no overcrowding and no gaping empty spots to make the party look lonely. The decor was definitely a step above, as was the entire club in general. The light setup was high tech, and there were trick strobes and laser illuminations. This definitely seemed like one of the places to hang around in town.

"Who would've thought there'd actually be a popular nightclub like this around here?" Ranma gulped his second Heineken. "I mean, I saw a few on the way here. But I didn't think they'd be on and poppin'."

Ukyou chuckled lightly with a smile. "Developers have been coming in to these quiet parts for the past few years and things have really picked up. Its helped out my restaurant tremendously beyond my wildest dreams." She sipped her cocktail, a fancily prepared Mojito courtesy of Ranma after having a beer with him when they got there. She munched on some grapes from an assorted fruit platter that they'd ordered.

"It's actually kind of cool how all this new stuff is all around since the last time I came here. I've gotten used to a rapidly changing environment, you know?" Ranma sipped his beer bottle dry and motioned for the bartender. "Can I get a beer on tap?"

"What kind sir?" the bartender politely asked.

Ranma shrugged. "Surprise me."

The bartender smiled and nodded as he quickly walked to the tap fountain, which had a huge variety that would impress any beer lover. If anything else, the bar was definitely five-stars all the way.

"So you do anything interesting so far since you've gotten here?" Ukyou leered over to catch Ranma's gaze.

"There's been quite a few things stirring around this city since I've arrived. I've been working with Kiyone on this as it all started in Okayama since when you first met her."

"Really? What's going on?"

"I can't really tell you anything too specific," Ranma sighed. He looked over and saw the bartender come back with a mug of fresh beer from the tap.

"Hope you enjoy it, it's European, sir," the bartender quickly said and scuttled away to other patrons.

"You sound like you're trying to save the world and keeping things under wraps?" Ukyo looked at him quizzically.

That got a few amusing chuckles out of him. "No, nothing like that." He took a sip of his beer, which was golden and looked cloudy and unfiltered. "Mmm, nice choice. Hefeweizen." He gave it a few refreshing gulps.

"Does any of this involve Nerima?"

"Actually, it does." Ranma shook his head in disgust. "I've been following a few leads. This started all from a murdered wife of a police detective in Okayama. She was killed to silence and defuse a small drug bust that I'd made a few weeks ago."

Ukyou gasped, visibly upset. "Oh my god, that's so terrible!"

"Ain't it a sick fucking world? Anyway what I'm thinking is someone's covering their tracks, and we got another murder the next morning. The victim was someone who was specifically from around here."

"What happened?" Ukyou was rapt with morbid fascination.

"I can't really tell you more than that, Ucchan." She pouted dissapointedly. "It's nothing pleasant, and that's why I'm around to clean things up."

"Always the hero, right?"

Ranma polished off his beer quick and signaled for another. "Don't you know it?"

Both shared a laugh, a friendly reminder of their close and steadfast bond over the years.

"I can tell you this though," Ranma said as he brought another fresh mug of wheat beer to his lips. "This whole fiasco revolves around drugs. It's like some fresh dam that's been broken in Tokyo."

"Oh, wow," Ukyou said, sounding surprised. She took down her Mojito in a single gulp, watching Ranma and deciding to pace a little closer with him. She didn't show it, but she felt a great deal more uncomfortable. What Ranma had missed in the development of Nerima... It didn't go unnoticed to her.

Ukyou's former fiancee looked amused as a big smile cracked wide. "Want another?"

"Sure, why not." She rested her arm on the bar and put her hand on her face, smiling lazily. "I'm not feeling choosy, so you surprise me now," she said playfully.

"Oh, is that right?" Ranma whistled aloud. "Yo, bartender! Gimme an Adios Motherfucker! And a Screwdriver, extra stiff!"

"Comin' right up!"

"Now THAT is a funny name for a drink! What is it?"

A devilish smile formed on his lips. "I'm glad for the little things in life, places like this that have high class bars that serve everything. You've heard of a Long Island Ice Tea right?"

"Haaaaaaai." Her smile turned a little skeptical this time.

"Hehe, this is kind of like it, just tastes different. Same potency."

"Oh, now you're just testing me!" Ukyou bellowed triumphantly. "Let me tell you something Mr. Saotome, I'm no featherweight!"

The bartender slid a tall glass to their section and it seemed to glow blue as it glided. The cocktail looked curiously appetizing and radiated fun in a glass. Another cocktail followed, looking a lot like a glass of orange juice.

"Domo!" Ranma tipped the waiters and bartenders generously, as it got him prompt service and faster response than the other regular schmoes who didn't.

"Kanpai!" Ukyou lifted her glass, with Ranma matching it with his vodka OJ.

"Umaai! I like it!"

"Pretty good, ne?" Ranma was double fisting his drinks and downed his beer and sipped his cocktail. He nodded to the bartender for another beer refill with a smile.

"Now that I think about it," Ukyou pondered cutely with a finger to her lips. "When did you become a drinker? Let along such a lively one!"

Ranma continued sipping his drink and looked at her coyly. Her cheeks were just slightly tinted with pink, but his trained drunkard eyes knew she was well within the safe realm of sober. And the passing strobe lights from the dance floor occasionally flickered on her skin, which he noticed now that it was slightly tanned. She definitely must have been hitting the beach. His ex-cute fiancee was REALLY cute tonight.

"I never really told anyone back home while I was going to college and all, but I partied pretty hard." He stuck out his tongue in guilty pleasure.

"Get outta town! You?" She slapped his shoulder. "You graduated with a double major in three years! Where'd you find the time to study?"

"Now there's a story that I'll make quick," he said sheepishly. "I had a lot of good friends determined to see I follow in their steps and they helped me breeze through my classes a lot easier than I'd expected."

Ukyou took a long gulp of her drink, the well mixed sweetness of the concoction hid the fact that it was a four-shot hard liquor cocktail.

"You little weasel, you cheated didn't you?" She gave a hearty laugh as Ranma nodded slightly embarrassed, albeit with a big grin on his face.

"I'm no quitter or asshole in life, but I'm not so high strung where I can't take a liberty here or there to have fun," Ranma said, finishing his Screwdriver. His mood was already way better from earlier in the evening, and he felt like he was uninhibitedly enjoying himself for the first time in ages. Which for the most part, was true.

"I bet all the girls chased you like you were the local heartthrob, huh?" She winked and nudged his ribs with her elbows.

"Hey, hey. In America I wasn't the playboy I'd managed to achieve here on the home court, alright?" Ukyou barely stifled another laugh as she threw a grape at Ranma's face. "Over there you either have to flash some cash and show you're loaded. Or you could be the cage fightin' bad-ass that gets all the groupies."

"Well, I guess you're two strikes out of three for that one. So do I get to hear a third excuse?"

Ranma nearly choked on his beer, yet another fresh mug. "I was the latter, now. You got to give me some credit!"

"Oh ho?"

"Heh, well I'm kidding about the badass part. But real early on when I was just barely getting to know some people I was at this party. There was this group of Korean guys, trying to act all hard and badass and just ruining things for everyone. A guy I'd just met that night simply told them to keep it down so that the neighbors wouldn't call the cops, and those assholes tried to attack him."

Ukyou nodded. "Well go on, what happened?"

"Anyway, the guy I was talking to certainly wasn't a pushover himself. I mean I was surprised, he was a pretty well built guy around my height and build but just super nice and didn't give any aura of aggression. But he sure knew how to throw down. But anyway when he defended himself against one person the rest of these jokers upped the ante and pull out knives at a goddamn party. I stepped in to stop things, I wasn't really in the mood to get into a fight. But they persisted, and I got pissed because they wouldn't stop making fun of my old red silk shirt I used to wear and my ponytail, so I just beat their asses right there. Took away their knives, threw 'em on the ground, I didn't hurt them or nothing."

"Is that why you're dressing all GQ now?" Ukyou teased.

Ranma made a mock frown. "Some friend you are, is there something wrong with the way I'm dressed? I usually dress a lot nicer than this, but I was feelin casual."

"Not at all..." Ukyou scooted her stool closer to him and curled her finger on his sleeved shirt. "You're actually dashingly handsome right now."

Ranma was still as Ukyou was close enough for him to smell the sweet liquor off her breath. He leaned back at the close contact. "Whoa, there. Getting' a little too frisky, ey?"

Ukyou blew a breath upwards and her bangs jostled. "Oh, puhleeeease. Get over yourself."

Ranma derisively wiped off his shoulder and grew a cocky smile. "When you're in a place where you don't know a single damn person, you try to fit in. Well, that night sparked a big wave of interest in the weird guy with the Chinese shirts who barely knew English. The guy I helped out took an immediate interest in me, and we became good friends. Best friends, in fact."

"I thought _I_ was your best friend, Ranchan?"

"Sou, sou," he chided, tapping her nose with his fingers. "Of course you are, my widdle Ucchan." She playfully punched him in the arm because of the baby voice. "He's my best GUY friend, how's that?"

"I could've counted for that too once-upon-a-time-ago," she said with a hint of mischief.

"You're one-hundred percent woman, Ucchan. And I'd prefer you keep it that way." This got him an appreciative nod. "Besides, John was a really good guy. Helped me improve my English to near bilingual status way quicker than I'd ever thought possible and he was a real man too, in his own way. He partied hard non-stop like there was no tomorrow, and even though _I_ had stayed a faithful man," he said with a shade of bitter zeal, "I helped him get laid a whole lot too, haha."

Ukyou gave him a funny look, shaking her head with a funny look on her face. "Boys, boys, boys."

Ranma shrugged. "Hey, it wasn't me. A lot of people saw me with him get into fights since half of the Asian population in LA thinks they're gangsters, and I guess girls just love the bad-boy image. Of course John did all the swooping, I stayed as the wingman."

Ukyou gulped the last of her Adios MF, and was starting to feel a buzz. Definitely a lot looser. "Well bravo, sounds like you had a good time then?"

"College was definitely a blast. It was the first time in my life I was on my own you know?"

"Thanks for writing me and staying in touch with your ol' buddy, yah Ranchan?"

"Oooooh... My bad Ucchan. I don't really have an excuse for that, I was still crazy over Akane then and talked to her mostly. My parents called once in a while to check up on me and all. But yah, I've been too much of a hermit for way too long."

Ukyou sighed heavily. "Don't be so down, Ranchan." She pat his shoulder because he had a wistful smile. "I'm older, you're older. We both grew up. Let bygones be bygones right? You're here now and, I'm grateful."

"I'm glad you see it that way." His pensive expression melted away. "You finish your drink huh? You like?"

A happy and borderline intoxicated Ukyou nodded vigorously in gratitude. Ranma had yet another fresh beer with him. She noticed he drank beer like it was water, that was his seventh since he'd gotten here if she wasn't mistaken.

Ranma was basking in a content warm blanket of fuzzy serenity. Knowing he could find someone to drink with like this, especially Ukyou of all people, made his night so far just that much better. He was borderline drunk himself, he'd been buzzed for a while and it didn't help he'd been drinking since early in the afternoon.

"Hey, let's get another drink, take something fun with me!"

"Hmm?" Ukyou's bright red cheeks turned back to her childhood friend after looking at the dance floor idly. "I'm starting to get a little tipsy here, I don't think I could drink another one of those Adios'."

Ranma waved his hands. "Oh, nothing that strong, but I know a good one if they have it. Of course if you're not up for it..." Ranma trailed off.

"Like I can't handle what you've always dished out," she shot back, feeling brave. "C'mon, Ranchan. Let's see what you got."

"Yo, bartender!" Ranma gave Ukyou a mischievous grin.

"Hai!" A different person behind the bar came up right away.

Ranma rubbed his palms thinking for a moment. "You don't happen to make Irish Car Bombs, do you?"

The young bartender thought for a second, he was new but was well trained to quite a wide variety of mixed drinks around the world, as this bar and club was famous for. "Yeah, we do sir! We actually have Guinness bottles though, not on tap. What kind of whiskey would you like in it?"

"Ah, that's great." Ranma thought about it for a second, as Ukyou looked on curious as to what this interesting sounding concoction would be. "Hey Ucchan, do you get sick easily when you drink?"

Ukyou confidently shook her head. "I pass out like anyone else if I drink way too much, but I don't hurl or get sick anymore like when I was a teenager."

"We'll have two. You guys have Irish whiskey right?" Their server nodded. "Just put in a shot of Jameson and Baileys. And I want it FULL sized."

"Right away, sir." The young bartender went to the middle of the bar and started assembling the drinks.

"What the heck is an Irish Car Bomb?" Ukyou looked slightly worried, as it sounded pretty intimidating.

"Ha, you'll see. It's a boilermaker."

"Boilermaker?"

"Think sake-bombs." Ranma gave a toothy grin.

"Ick," she stuck her tongue out looking skeptical.

When the bartender came back several people looked in interest at the large mugs filled with a completely black liquid accompanied by multilayered shot glasses.

"Here you go, enjoy it quick!"

Ukyou looked at the black beer and the cream and dark caramel colored shots. She was equally fascinated along with others who had never really seen this before.

"One of my co-workers is Irish, and he absolutely loved Guinness and loved these. It became one of my favorites."

"What's in it?"

Ranma picked up his large mug that was filled about three-quarters of the way with the stout beer and the shot. Ukyou did the same. "This is a beer called Guinness, it's not carbonated like other beers and it's almost flat. But very rich and tasty. This right here," he said while shaking the shot glass with his fingers, "is a mix of Irish whiskey and Baileys Irish cream. You drop this real good into the beer and chug it as fast as you can. You're in for a treat!"

Ukyou looked excited to try, fueled in part by enthusiasm under the influence.

"Bottoms up, Ucchan. Kanpai!"

Ranma tapped his mug with Ukyou's and he raised his shot glass half a foot above his glass, prompting her to do the same. They dropped it at the same time, the glass plopping straight down to the bottom of the glass with a clank, immediately causing the mix to curdle.

Both mouthed their glasses firmly and poured down the alcohol eagerly down their throats. Ukyou tasted the surprisingly wonderful mix of the dark toasty wheat in the stout with the barley like refined sting of the whiskey blended beautifully with the ultra rich and smooth candy like taste of the Irish cream.

A little quicker on the art of downing beer, Ranma finished his first with Ukyou finishing as soon as the mug left his lips. They triumphantly slammed their glasses down with a big satisfied puff of air.

The blood slowly rushed to Ukyou's head, and she felt free and clear. "Wow, that was great!"

The constant mix of different drinks throughout the day finally caught up with Ranma with that last power drink, and his head was feeling light and floaty. He let out a content drunken sigh as he stretched his arms, and his nose curiously twitched as he smelled cigarette smoke from some of the people sitting next to him.

"I told you," Ranma proclaimed.

"It did its job, I'll tell you that. I'm pretty wasted," Ukyou laughed, zealously happy. Her eyes kept wandering towards the dance floor.

"You know what? So am I. I've been drinking since three in the afternoon!" Ranma quickly bit his tongue, he let that out without thinking.

"Since three?" With Ukyou's drunken state, she quickly waved it off as trivial. Instead, she got up and grabbed Ranma's arm. "Hey Ranchan, let's go dance!"

This caught Ranma by surprise. "Dance? Out there?"

"Of course out there, silly!" She pointed for emphasis. "What, do you want to dance on top of the bar?"

Ranma did a double take on that last comment and looked hesitant. "I dunno, it's been a while and all and you know and..."

Ukyou continued to smile and kept tugging on his arm. "What is Mr. Ranma Saotome AFRAID of? Can't dance with your old friend?"

"Uhh... it's been a while and all and you know and..."

Ukyou laughed this time, she was stubbornly drunk and the dance floor had been teasing her since her second drink or so. Plus she was really smashed and felt completely unrestrained, and with Ranma here...

"C'mon, you act like you have a girlfriend or something." This elicited a positive response from Ranma for Ukyou, as he looked confused. She made a triumphant cheer mentally. "Are you going out with Kiyone or something?"

"......" Ranma looked at her, his expression neutral and his body relaxed as he leaned his back on the bar. Now that he thought about it, he wasn't going out with her or anything. He had plenty of interest in her as she managed to capture his attention like no one had in a long time. He'd been hesitant about women in general for over a year now, and here he was. Drunk, happy, reasonably sociable, and with an old friend he trusted who happened to be a girl. Old friend, but 'yes', he mentally noted. She was still a girl.

It couldn't hurt to just kick back and have fun like he once remembered.

"Alright, let's go dance," Ranma simply said.

Ukyou's face lit up and her cherry red cheeks glowed. "Well what are we waiting for?" She dragged him out and he nearly tripped trying to keep up as both of them entered into the pit of the dance floor. The lights were properly dim for a nightclub, with only a split second strobe here and there tuned to the beat of the music.

The loudspeakers boomed across the floor reverberating with a tight solid thump as the DJ transitioned into a new song, one that Ranma recognized immediately as a club favorite in America. He started moving his legs and bounced his torso to the beat.

Ukyou gasped as her eyes were fixed on Ranma moving so fluidly to the beat of this catchy hip hop tune, and joined him in symmetry as his dance partner. A tingle in the back of Ranma's head got him completely into the mood and atmosphere as he started grooving to the song (which he knew very well, as an acquired fan of hip hop) sinuously.

He surprised Ukyou by grabbing her towards him and sliding down and putting his left leg in between hers with both his knees bent, she immediately adjusted and the two were grinding to the beat like poetry in motion.

This wasn't her first time at a night club, but of all people Ranma was the most unique and exciting person she'd ever danced with, his raw energy and constantly changing footwork looked like an art form. Ranma was completely absorbed in the music and with her, as his eyes simply followed her every step and every swing of her arms.

Every now and then their eyes would meet and they would just smile, breathing heavily in their intoxication. Ukyou draped her arms over Ranma's neck, her sweaty arms gliding smoothly across his skin as they fixed their gaze into each others eyes.

The two went on for a while, going through more than several sets of songs as the club actually got more and more crowded. Soon it was just a sea of raw energy dominated by men and women in heat and the strong aroma of alcohol wafting across the room.

Ranma and Ukyou walked back to their section of the bar, which the bartenders had smartly reserved for their generously tipping patrons. The duo laughed over nothing in particular, still pumped up from the dance floor. Ukyou's head was swimming as she was having the time of her life. Ranma was feeling similar sentiments, he couldn't remember the last time he had so much fun.

"You, mister," Ukyou said in a sizzling voice, with her finger poking Ranma's chest, "are a phenomenal dancer."

Ranma made a mock bow. "I aim to please, wherever I go."

Ukyou laughed as she ran her hand through her hair, wiping off a bit of sweat from her brow. "I think you set that floor on fire, Ranchan! It's been a while, huh? You been partying like this in America too?"

Ranma suppressed bad memories and thankfully remembered the good. "I had one serious girlfriend while I was a cop, and she just loved dancing and going clubbing."

"Well wasn't she a lucky one?" Ukyou didn't notice Ranma wincing. "And now I get to experience getting you out there for myself!"

"I like to have fun just like anyone else, alright? So I learned a trick or two since you've last seen me."

"So desu, ne?" Ukyou pulled out her cell phone to check the time and her eyes widened. "Wow, it's already almost midnight."

"Only?"

"I dunno where the time went!"

"Hey, how about we hit up another place? Or a few?"

"Oh, some food?"

"And some sake?"

Ukyou felt more than eager to go along, even if it meant more drinking. "You lead, I follow!"

Ranma nodded, and waved for a server behind the bar. "Excuse me, can I get my tab?"

Someone responded right away. "Certainly sir. Your bill comes out to 22,900 yen."

"Oh, wow! That's expensive! Let me pay for it," Ukyou's eyes bugged out, realizing how much they'd both drank. Getting in alone had been a luxuriously hefty 5,500 yen cover charge for each of them since this was such a posh venue, and Ranma had paid that too.

Ranma shrugged as if she'd said something silly. "Please, please. I'm taking you out tonight. This is nothing at all, we're at a nice bar." He pulled out his wallet and gave 25,000 yen to the server. "Keep the change."

"Hai! Thank you very much!" he replied crisply.

***

April 20th, 2001.

47th floor, JNSA Headquarters – Tokyo, Japan. 11:58 PM.

"This is a real interesting case you've gotten yourself into, Jackson. We get ourselves a new operative and in less than a month he's already gotten through the depths of the city. I knew he was something special."

"Commander, I think if you praise the man anymore people would start to think you'd want to suck him off."

The senior commanding officer of one of the most elite services in the Japanese government scoffed at the younger head working on the computer and smacked the backside of his head.

"I'm just kidding sir," Jackson continued, conversing in English. "But you're right, he really is something."

Takayama perused over a couple of fresh intel reports that he had received from various sources from the intelligence bureau. He looked over some various statistics sheets of illegal narcotics.

"I think you and Ranma's hunch have some bearings on this, Jackson." Takayama flipped to a few incidents of major spikes and known distributions of drugs in various parts of Honshu. "Drug sales have systematically gone up in some sort of pattern, but they're being moved in incredible amounts of bulk and cheaper prices. It's like they're raising funds or something. The seizes are huge, arrests of smaller dealers are low, and there must be hundreds of millions of yen being traded off at a time. Maybe more. That must pay for a lot of dirty pockets."

Jackson Samamoto frowned. "That's a possibility, but I'm not putting all my eggs in one basket yet. I did make some progress though with the revolver we recovered from last night." He yawned and wiped a tear away from his eyes. He had his responsibilities to tend to, but couldn't help but wonder if he would've had some fun if he'd just gone out with his partner.

"Yeah, I was briefed real quick about it upstairs before I came down to see you."

Jackson nodded. "Yeah, one of the Company* guys I'm cool with, from way back, did a little bit of homework for me. And what a surprise, he comes back to me the same day. Says there's been stockpiles of old weapons being shipped and disappearing when they come near the Sea of Japan, blames a storm that's passing through or some other reasonable excuse. He told me no one gives a shit because lost cargo is so common in international waters and everything is still reported so there's no reason for suspicion. It's common for ships to lose tens of millions worth in cargo in sea accidents. The Southeast Asian seas are prime smuggling routes too. They still have sea pirates working as couriers to switch over contraband cargo from legitimate transports."

*Company – Commonly used nickname for the CIA.

"And the revolver?"

"There was a partial serial number that remained when we disassembled the damn thing. Numbers partially match a list of Chinese stockpiled weapons that date back to the 60's. I've contacted our agents near the coasts to work with the Maritime Safety Agency."

Takayama nodded. "Make sure to tell Ranma about this when you see him."

"Yes, sir. I probably wont see him till tomorrow afternoon, with the undercover stint he's pulling off at some high school in the Nerima ward. Isn't that a weird coincidence he's led back to where he came from?"

"Yeah, a weird twist of fate I'll say," Takayama agreed.

"You could've told me he was a bit of a nutcase, sir," Jackson idly commented. "I'm not complaining he's incompetent or anything, but if you saw him in action yesterday you would've sworn he's a sociopath in denial."

"That nutcase is the kind of guy who'll go above and beyond to save your ass one day if you ever need it," Takayama chided. "Besides, I studied his history very well before I considered employing him. He's the perfect foot soldier for us."

"Do or die right?" Jackson shook his head at his boss's subtle smile. "What perfect fucking circumstances for you to reel him in."

"I had to take advantage of his turbulent mental state and talked it over with his boss at the time. I need a ruthless wildcard like him to keep things in check. I saw you growing up in fucking France, Jackson. You know what kind of shit hole Paris is. I don't want Japan to escalate to that, we might already be too late."

"Hai, hai," Jackson replied breaking out of his English. "Does he know your past at all, Commander?" He gave him a questionable look.

"I'll tell him if I have to or if he somehow finds out. It won't happen, you and I are the only ones in the Public Security sector with clearance to the Intelligence Bureau."

"You know, if I didn't know any better I'd think Ranma could moonlight as an assassin. Shit, he has no qualms about pulling the trigger."

For some reason right at that moment Jackson looked over his shoulder to see Takayama make an expression that got him worried.

"You aren't too far off, kid. I gave him a task, and he completed it without hesitation. Now that's a useful character right there. In fact that should be you, a counter-terrorist specialist from a country's top elite."

Some of the color drained from Jackson's face. "Don't tell me you anticipated this and wanted him as a department cleaner."

"Don't go jumping to conclusions you little shit. I'll admit, when the shit hits the fan he's going to be a surgical tool for us. But he has guts, and he has balls. Sometimes that's all you really need to lead. That's why I made him my number two man."

As much arrogance as Jackson possessed he didn't feel stabbing pangs of jealousy knowing he wasn't given a higher position in the hierarchy, concerning his cutthroat disposition. The elder Akira Takayama was a man his family was personal friends with and he'd also known since he was a kid. No matter how harsh or trite his words may be, Jackson knew it was honest and respected it fully.

At the very least, Ranma saved his life in the heat of battle like a true warrior or soldier would. A code of honor and conduct like that was something Jackson could irrevocably respect.

The young specialist scoffed and leaned back in his chair. "You know, Ranma made me remember something."

Takayama raised an eye brow. "Oh? What's that?"

"Since you've given me this job I've gone lax on a lot of training. I mean, it's still there. But my gut-instincts aren't as sharp anymore."

"I figured that might happen to you," Takayama said. He clicked his tongue. "I didn't think you'd go sour or anything and you didn't, so that didn't turn out to be a disaster. But it won't hurt to hone yourself."

Jackson eyed his boss, a formidable man that he had personally known for some many years and knew some of his more clandestine details. "I contacted some operators to cross train with. They said they'd be glad to help."

"Who are you talking about, Jackson?" The senior agent knew there were quite a few scattered special ops guys scattered across Japan either retired or working clandestine.

"It's our liaison undercover NOCs*. One's stationed in Chofu at Jindai High School and the other one works for Toshiba. I'm friends with one of them."

*Non-Official Cover.

Takayama nodded curiously. "I think I might know who you're talking about, at least the one who's in the high school. Ex-mercenary and Russian spec-ops, right? Real young?"

"Yeah, he's a sci-fi experiment come to life. Trained as a child in the tricks of the trade. I figured you would know of him. He told me he's a regional counter-terrorism failsafe seed. Planted into the infrastructure, break only in case of emergency type of deal."

"What agency does he work for?" Takayama knew the rules of the intelligence business, but mysteries still bugged him like it would to any other person.

"I couldn't say, Commander. Could be the Company. Could be MI-6."

"British services? Well, you definitely know him more than I do. He's just a personnel sheet for me."

"I remember him telling me he had lots of British comrades, including superiors. With his background, who knows what else he does. But it's most likely he's Spetsnaz trained, his childhood is a mystery. His best friend that I go way back with is a German-Jew from Israel, GSG-9 trained and known well in MOSSAD. Sneaky little bastard used to compete with me in sniping competitions whenever he had the time to freelance."

Takayama whistled out loud, impressed. "He's that good, huh? As far as I know you're the best."

"There are some tough sons of bitches out there," Jackson simply replied. "Barely know much about him, we're on spook terms."

"Who's the other one?"

"An American born ex-lieutenant trained by MOSSAD, she's CIA all the way. I met her through Sagara. I don't know her real name, she's employed as Hanako Dosukoi. Once heard him call her Excel, though. I don't know what she's truly capable of, but her NOC is a communications technician at Toshiba. I have no idea what she does. She's more cloak and dagger than he is."

It didn't surprise Takayama that there were spies disguised in regular roles all over Japan, as it occurred just about everywhere. The newly formed JNSA was new and essentially a helpful extension of the American CIA. Such expanded resources allowed recruitment of more Japanese operatives willing to help their country.

A beep emanated from Takayama's coat pocket, followed by a ring. He pulled out his cell phone and answered via encrypted satellite mode.

Jackson waited for his superior to finish his call as it seemed like an important notification considering how late it was.

Takayama ended his transmission and put away his phone. "That was Umino, from Hokkaido. He just told me there was a major raid in a firearm related incident in Sapporo less than an hour ago."

Although he had met his fellow MaxFor agents only a few times and some only once, he still remembered all of them. "No kidding? What happened up there?"

"He said he was observing a raid on a suspicious warehouse dock that the local prosecutor's office had ordered searched. On a hunch Umino advised police officials to use Hokkaido's SAT* to storm the place. Despite laughing in his face for recommending overkill on manpower, they followed his words and they were met with resistance."

*Special Assault Team, or Tokushu Butai.

"Is this Yakuza related as well?" Jackson had much to learn still with criminal methodology and modus operandi of outlaws in general since this wasn't his specialty.

"I'm guessing it is. He told me the search was warranted for suspicion of transporting stolen goods. Well they found nothing anyway, except a suitcase of pistol and rifle ammunition after their suspects shot at them. Apparently they heavily underestimated them, and five of the tactical officers were injured. Two are critical."

Jackson sighed. "No KIAs?"

"Only the assailants, the SAT guys will live. Blame the police brass' fucking policy on training these guys to hesitate using force. Umino took over the case immediately and shut out local authorities. I just approved his mandate, he thinks this should be strictly MaxFor. I agreed." Takayama nodded sternly. "The city office was thrashed too. Someone set an IED* on the side of the building as possible retaliation. Umino already covered it up as an explosion in the gas lines. This sudden influx of firepower can't be a coincidence."

*Improvised explosive device. Homemade bombs, basically.

"I agree. He has no help out there though. He's our only agent on that island."

"He's an independent worker, I can trust him. Meanwhile, I want you to find out any possible ways to pump in guns, no matter how obscure it is. We need to get to the source right away."

"There are some people working on that for me, I'll have a better idea by tomorrow. I'm gonna call Umino and tell him to find me serials for the guns that were used in the shootout."

Takayama nodded. "Contact the Maritime Safety Agency and tell them to start covert surveillance on any possible pirates and couriers coming in through the sea through the north. I'm betting someone's willing to take the risk to go through that way to smuggle shit in."

"A smuggler coming in through that cold, frosty fuck of a sea? Sounds thin, sir."

"There are some pros out there that'll do it for the right price."

"I'll get right on it," Jackson replied.

"Before you go, there's one more thing."

"Yes, sir?"

"Remember Major Kurosawa? The guy who went off a few months to go to cross train in Korea?"

Jackson blinked. "Oh yeah, he was supposed to work here in East Honshu with me?"

"He's back and is reporting in tomorrow. He's very eager to meet you two."

Jackson looked skeptical. "He's working with us?"

"Don't worry, three's company but he can work on his own. He'll offer any support you two need."

"What'll he be doing then?"

"NOC* liason."

*NOC – Non-Official Cover. In this context, it's purposely ambiguous.

"Oh." That was enough explanation and a subtle hint to stop asking more than what he was told.

***

April 20th, 2001.

Nerima Riverbank – Nerima, Japan. 11:54 PM.

"Mmm, try this one."

"Not bad, but I like this barbecue weiner better."

Ranma stuck his tongue out, refusing the glazed hot dog on a stick. "I hate sweet things when I'm drunk. Makes me sick."

The night turned chilly as the two rested on the grassy incline near a familiar bridge. What used to be a place for solitary soul searching was now a common gathering place for people to drink by the serene riverbank. It was a sign of the times as Nerima had changed into a busier town.

"When was the last time we were here together, Ranchan?"

"This old place?" Ranma sat up and looked around while sipping on a bottle of Bud Light he overpaid for at the local Family Mart. He laid back down and faced Ukyou, face flushed red from alcohol. "Wow, when you put it that way. It's been maybe what, seven years?"

"Seven years?" she asked, amazed at the number herself.

"We're only 25 years old, you know that? But I feel like I've lived another life altogether. I'll be honest, Ucchan. I don't even remember what it felt like to sit here and be back home anymore. I mean I remember it of course, but it doesn't feel the same."

"I have no idea what you're talking about, Ranchan," she slurred. She burst out laughing and punched him in the arm. "Oh, I'm just kidding. This place in general isn't even the same anymore. Nerima's not the same place it was when we were teenagers."

"Yeah, I'm sitting here at one of my old hangouts drinking beer," he said with a smile. He sloppily dribbled some around his mouth as he took another swig.

"You dork, you've made a mess." Ukyou moved her body right next to Ranma's and dabbed his chin and lips with her hand. She rested her head on his chest lazily.

Ranma wrapped his arms around his friend. He felt her warm breath through his shirt and could smell the light scent of liquor as her ample chest heaved lightly on his stomach.

"What do you think life would've been like if we had just gotten together, Ranchan?"

He was wasted and his vision was playing tricks on him, but his brain was well conditioned to plunk out of risky business even when drunk. He almost startled Ukyou when his chest puffed from laughing. "C'mon now Ucchan. We're both tanked and you're talking dangerous."

Her face turned bright. "I didn't mean it like that, you asshole." She propped her chin up on her elbow and looked him in the eye. "I'm asking because I wonder if it would have even worked out."

That caught him by surprise, and he felt bad for what he had just said to his friend. "Oh? Don't think I would've been up for the task?"

"I've been in two relationships. Both were serious. One I almost thought I would keep forever."

"How was it?"

"I'll be completely honest. With my last boyfriend I was so happy that I was glad that I didn't end up with you. We always talked about living together and taking care of each other when we're old and wrinkly and all of that sweet bullshit."

"What did he do for a living?"

"He was some hotshot investment banker. Really smart in the head. Nabiki actually knows him, that's how I met him."

"Nabiki?" he asked warily.

"He wasn't a bloodsucker," she replied much to her own relief and Ranma's. "It's just when we finally started living together, it didn't work out. Just a lot of things to deal with."

"Oh, I know what you mean. When I first moved in with Ichino it was like living in a war zone for a few weeks. It only worked out because we had the same job."

"She was a cop?" Ukyou asked, surprised.

Ranma mentally slapped himself. "Yeah. Like I said before it, uh, didn't work out."

Ukyou nodded in surprise and continued. "I guess I was too independent for him, and he was too clingy for me. After a few months it just crumbled apart, and the damage was done."

Ranma looked straight into the sky and tried hard to shut out his memories. As always, the alcohol helped.

"Achoo!" Ukyou sneezed. She got up and dusted herself off from the cool grass.

"Let's start walking back, it's getting cold."

"Carry me! Piggyback!" she squealed like a child.

Ranma smiled and motioned for her to get on his back. She practically leapt on much to the amusement of other inebriated bystanders around them and Ranma did a balancing act to keep himself from falling as he finally started walking straight.

"I'm not too heavy for you, am I?" she asked as she playfully tugged on his earlobe.

World class martial artist or not, he had trouble walking straight in his stupor. He squeezed his friend's firm and shapely thighs with his hands as he chuckled.

"Hey, where do you think you're touching mister!"

"You're not heavy, but I'm surprised you're still in such good shape. You still training, Ucchan?"

"Just about every day," she hiccupped. "Just an hour or so, some more whenever there's time. It beats going to a gym. I start dressing a little feminine after high school and next thing you know guys are chasing me for the bod, don't you know it?"

"Yeah, I can feel those rippling manly muscles," he joked.

Ukyou playfully put a choke hold around his neck, much to her amusement as Ranma flailed around in comic fashion.

"Watch what you say there buddy. I still got a few moves left."

Ranma sputtered as she released and he started walking again. "Ok, I'm sorry, I'm sorry." He bounced her a few times on his back. "Did you always have breasts this big, Ucchan?"

Ukyou lifted an eyebrow. "Must've been all those years of wrapping 'em up when I was around you," she said, hefting her package. She pressed against his back for emphasis, her self modesty and judgment altered. "God, I miss getting' laid," she slurred.

If he had been sober Ranma would've probably jumped through a concrete wall head first, but since he was determining which sidewalk tile was real and which was the illusion as he was walking forward, his judgment fell short too. "Ha ha! Oh man I never would've thought you'd be talking to me about something like that. But that's right, you did have boyfriends before."

"Oh big deal!" she said, poking her index finger on his right temple. "I'm twenty five fucking years old, you don't think I was still a virgin, do ya?"

"Yeah, yeah. We're all grown up, I remember."

"The only person I can think of out of our friends who might still have her cherry is Shampoo."

"No shit?"

Ukyou sighed wistfully. She had trouble thinking straight or even coherently. "I remember even after we broke up we still had sex for months after. It wasn't a clean break up. He'd call me when he was drunk or lonely, and I'd do the same. Then, we finally just moved on."

Ranma listened with an open ear. Even though this conversation was getting dangerous, he still had to hear out his friend.

"Jesus. I think it's been a year and a half now since then. Been single ever since," she mumbled.

"Been just over a year for me," Ranma thought out loud.

"Oh?" She rustled his hair, interested. "Just over a year for you, eh?"

Ranma's face paled, wondering if he had just said his thoughts out loud. "I didn't say a thing," he said lamely.

"And how's that other friend of yours doing? The one I met at my restaurant?"

"Who?" He was racking his alcohol addled brain.

"I'm talking about the teal haired dame of yours. The cop." She knocked his head to check if it was hollow.

"Kiyone," Ranma replied. "What about her?"

"What do you mean what about her? Are you guys an item or what?"

"She's a nice girl," he replied simply. It was about as piss poor an excuse he could give.

That was about as piss poor an answer she had ever heard. Always just a "nice" girl, they say. Ukyou let out an exasperated sigh. "Are you two interested in each other? Are you dating? Are you fucking?"

"Whoa there!" Ranma nearly yelped. Thin ice. "We're not going out, and we're not sleeping with each other, alright?"

"What, did I make you blush, Ranchan?" She twirled her finger around his cheeks.

"Just scarin' me a little bit that's all, Ucchan." His voice sounded shaky.

"I thought Ranma Saotome wasn't afraid of anything?"

"Oh sure I am, Ucchan." Ranma scoffed. "I'm still afraid of cats, remember?"

"Everyone knows that, Ranchan!" she said exasperatedly. "Tell me something new."

"Oh let's see," he said with a hum. He bounced Ukyou on his back as she giggled. She held on tighter with her warm face pressing against his cheeks.

"I'm afraid of bad whiskey," he started, counting off his fingers while Ukyou chuckled. "I'm afraid of stupid criminals, afraid of yelling bosses-"

"Haha, why stupid criminals?"

Ranma smiled. "Because they can embarrass even the most serious of people."

"I see, I see. Go on."

The two playfully rattled off trivial fears until finally Ranma reached the back entrance to Ukyou's living quarters, which was remodeled to the second floor.

"Here's my key, just head up the stairs," Ukyou purred.

He opened the door with a bit of blurry difficulty and slowly made his way up the stairs, continuing from earlier.

"I'm also afraid of female drivers, by the way," he said, barely containing his laughter.

"Well I'm in the driver's seat controlling you, so you better watch it mister!" she said sloppily, rustling his hair and wiggling around to sway him.

"Hey, hey! Stop that!" Ranma wiped his eyes as he entered through the door at the top to her makeshift apartment. He felt drunk enough by now to be woozy enough to trip and fall. He wasn't exactly an on and off social drinker and his body had plenty of tolerance training. It had been a while since he had gotten THIS drunk with another person.

"Aww, poor widdle Ranchan losing his balance?"

"Pfft," Ranma scoffed, although he was trying to find his balance as he made his way into her bedroom. "You know what else I was afraid of? Drunken frat boys and drunken friends who got out of hand. Now that's, some embarrassment."

"Everybody plays the fool," she said, sliding off his back and onto her plushy futon with her blanket sprawled. The lights were off and the moonlit window cast the room in a soft din.

"Sometimes," he smiled.

Ukyou hummed softly to an oldies melody from the radio, stretching back in a sultry manner.

Ranma hummed back recognizing the tune, one of Marvin Gaye's classic songs of Motown. He sat on the ground stretching his legs as well, comfortably propping himself with only his arm.

A sparkle from her eye got his drunk attention, as she was still softly humming along the melody. "Drunk girls were another thing I was afraid of too."

"Drunk like this?" Her arm curled around his.

With their warm breaths close, Ranma did nothing as she inched closer and met his lips with hers, in a soft moist kiss.

Ranma softly let her continue, his body yielding gently into hers. His carnal instincts took over with inebriated impulse. He slowly kissed back, leaning back and letting her bend on top of him. He coursed a hand through her sweat matted hair and inhaled her rum infused pheromones. Another hand snaked down her back, gliding over the slick bumps of her tailbone and her lovely hips.

***

April 21st, 2001.

Chiba SAT and Joint US Naval Special Warfare Training Course – Southern Chiba Prefecture, Japan. 10:46 AM.

"They're pretty good at what they do, I've seen them train here a few times. Other units from Japan and joint training groups from the US Navy, Marine Corps, and Army get to practice their shit here too."

Ranma whistled appreciatively. "They spared no expenses here, eh? It's a shame we couldn't go back to that police station in Bokutou. They're probably going ape shit with all the new activity going around them."

"Yeah, because you decided to hang someone at the end of a fucking extension cord."

Ranma ignored the quip. "When do your buddies get here Jackson?"

"They'll be here any minute now, Ranma. How'd you ditch school by the way? I thought you started as an undercover just yesterday?"

Ranma shrugged his shoulders. "I was hung over, and I feigned being sick to the school nurse. I ditched my fellow undercover there, but she'll do fine."

"Hey, whatever works." Jackson looked at his partner quizzically, wondering about his professional conduct.

"I don't remember seeing this place on the list of US or Japanese police facilities, what gives?"

"This is a highly classified area. Not even the National Police brass know, let alone allowed here. It's strictly SAT personnel and a select few US Military. It has to do with OPSEC*."

*OPSEC – Operational Security.

"Really? Who else trains here?"

"Other than the ones I told you? You can let your imagination run wild, Cap'n. But Chiba SAT and the other regional SAT units around the country cycle in through here mostly."

"And the US?" Ranma looked genuinely interested.

Jackson looked stern. "Spec Warfare, CT training. All the spooky stuff." He shrugged his shoulders.

"You ain't telling me exactly what I'm asking you jerk off, but I understand the secrecy," Ranma conceded.

Jackson nodded appreciatively. "Alright, alright. This place is a potential staging area for any possible US counter-terrorism operation that may take place within the immediate radius. Navy DEVGRU* and Army Delta** both have priority over SATs if there are any American civilians involved in a terrorist incident in Japanese territory. I'm sure that's something you could've figured out on your own. SEAL Team Five cycles in some platoons for specialized training, and USMC Force Reconnaissance from Okinawa comes up here to train in cycles too. I remember reading in your file that you received Spec War training."

*Short for: Navy Special Warfare DEVelopment GRoUp. Also known as SEAL Team Six.

** Delta – 1st SFOD-D – Special Forces Operational Detachment Delta. Also known as Delta Force.

"I went through a portion of BUD/S* in Coronado."

*BUD/S - Basic Underwater Demolition/SEAL. More at the end of chapter.

"How'd they let you join SEAL training?" Jackson asked curiously. It was an extremely rare anomaly, as BUD/S did allow foreign exchange recruits to cross train but never civilian police as far as he knew.

Ranma blew out a slow breath, remembering a long chain of events from years ago. "Well, I was introduced to a couple of Navy SEAL instructors who happen to know some of the guys inside LAPD SWAT. I talked a lot of shit, and I mean a LOT of shit, on how I could breeze through their selection process and be a SEAL easily myself."

"The Trident* is world renowned, nothing is that easy," Jackson said, shaking his head.

*The trademark Navy SEAL badge.

"Well, it wasn't death, but yeah it wasn't easy either. I didn't go through all six damn months of BUD/S and all the other stuff they have to qualify for. And I wasn't in the Navy either, so I wasn't even close to getting the Trident." Ranma decided to leave out mentioning that it was easier going through anguish when you'd conditioned yourself for it from past experience. He didn't feel like telling his partner his life story of training in the wilderness.

"So what did they let you do?"

"I smoked everyone with all the repetitive physical fitness and drilling during BUD/S qualification, so the instructors decided to see how well I'd be running my mouth during their first phase, which includes hell week. Somehow the gods favored me and I was allowed a break from my job to partake in this 'essential training', as they justified it. I tell you, it was definitely interesting."

"Yeah, I'll fucking bet."

"I was a girl the whole time since I was constantly soaking wet."

"Oh? How was that?"

"That's what made it interesting," Ranma sighed with a hint of disgust.

"Life always throws a catch."

"Well, after I passed through that I earned some of their respect. They taught me some of the tricks of their trade in their own spare time. I gratefully accepted. It was around that time a South Korean CT unit was also in the area on a joint training exercise. The Koreans did whatever the hell they wanted. They saw me, they were amused a Jap could speak passable Korean. But what they really loved was how I could put up a good fight with these."

Ranma lifted up his fists to emphasize to Jackson his martial arts ability. Jackson nodded, amazed at Ranma's luck in circumstance.

"I fought one of their weaker guys in hand to hand combat. No fancy tricks, just straight technique. I'll be honest, I was surprised when they took me down with what I thought was the cheapest, brutal-fucking-fighting style I'd ever seen."

"Yeah, I've heard of it. Israelis have their own system like that too. But I heard the Korean Special Forces have their own unique style."

"It's well calculated, highly technical, highly opportunistic. If my father or any normal martial artist saw it in its intended action they would say it's just plain dishonorable and cheap. But hey, all's fair in war right?"

"I agree, for the most part," Jackson replied.

"But anyway, that's the gist of it. I was given CQB training by my own department on privileged request, I was shown and taught how to hone it by those other guys and I practiced on my own. That's all it was, Jackson. Practice, practice, practice."

"Getting into GIGN was no picnic either. During the selection process, only eight of us made it through and there were over a hundred applicants."

"Something to brag about, huh?" Ranma chirped. He did a little bit of homework into Jackson's service history. Needless to say, Ranma had been quick to judge. His partner was one tough warthog.

Jackson grinned. "Oh, not quite. It wasn't after I was well seasoned into the unit I felt like I was hot shit."

"To your credit, you probably were."

"Yeah, but not anymore," Jackson replied wistfully. "That's why I'm here."

Ranma nodded. "Is that your buddies right there?"

Jackson looked behind his shoulder and saw two figures walking through the large, isolated compound with their large bags in tow. The entrance to the place was far off and no private vehicles were allowed inside due to tight security. Both were dropped off by a sedan driven by a security officer.

"Over here!" Jackson yelled.

Both came over in stride. A young man with long ruffled hair dropped his duffel bag to stick out his hand and shake Jackson's.

"Good seeing you again, Sergeant. I was surprised you wanted to get together for a training exercise. It's been a while."

"Good to see you too, Sergeant. Sousuke, let me introduce you to my partner, Captain Ranma Saotome."

"Nice to meet you, you can just call me Ranma."

"I'm Sagara Sousuke. Pleasure to meet you, sir."

Ranma took a look at the guy in front of him and noticed he couldn't be more than a teenager. He was dressed in woodland fatigues and his young face had eyes that possessed the steely glint of a weathered combat veteran.

"I'm Hanako Dosukoi, Captain Saotome."

The other one was a pretty natural blonde, about 5' 5" with a chirpy energetic voice. At first Ranma thought she was Caucasian, but realized she was mixed Asian. She looked far too attractive to be someone who would be handling lethal equipment. Her bright hazelnut eyes spoke of innocence untold, it seemed.

"Pleasure to meet you, Miss Dosukoi," Ranma said, reaching out to shake her hand.

She looked so average, just a normal girl. But her finger tips and palm were coarse.

"Please, just call me Hanako," she said, shaking her head.

Ranma caught her very subtly eyeing him up and down. It was the look of a professional assessing a subject. His fine tuned senses caught it ever so delicately.

"So you're the new top honcho over at MaxFor, huh? Interesting."

Ranma blinked. This girl knew about him?

---------------------

Several hours of constant drilling left Ranma satisfied with his new sidearm along with some refresher training of other small arms. The facility they were training at was more than meets the eye, after much exploration of the entire place Ranma realized just how fully equipped the place was for special warfare training.

The compound housed several elaborate shooting houses, with incredibly automated moving targets throughout. There was even an underground shooting house and a section of an airplane fuselage and cockpit for counter-terrorism training. But most impressive of all was a dynamic sniping range.

It was dynamic because the whole thing was computerized for all sorts of sniping scenarios that allowed close to maximum distance with targets that were able to move at random. It was here Ranma learned firsthand, that Jackson was a first rate rifleman.

First rate would have been an understatement. Hanako had whispered in his ear (and ever so sultry, as Ranma almost mistook her for a bit of a sex kitten) that Jackson might possibly be the best sharpshooter in the world. He demonstrated by showing several consistent maximum range shots with a custom made bolt action Mauser that he had owned since his days in his old French counter terrorism unit. Using his flat shooting .338 Lapua rounds, he scored an amazing five consecutive hits at a 1000 meter target circle that was less than three inches in diameter. He scored a single cold barrel shot at the same distance into a single square inch target.

Ranma saw that as the equivalent of pinpoint striking a person's eyeball a kilometer away.

But the real kicker came when Ranma offered Jackson the use of his "custom" H&K MSG-90. Despite Jackson's skepticism, he reluctantly just accepted the fact that somehow it was possible for this rifle to be recoilless and flatter shooting than his bolt action Mauser. The results spoke for themselves, as Jackson managed to impress even Sousuke and Hanako when he flawlessly picked off moving targets at intervals of 200, 400, and then finally 600 meters away. For all the goddamn secrets that were being flung at him, Ranma had one-upped his new acquaintances by snatching away his rifle after they were finished when they asked to borrow it for some further examining. He at least had a secret of his own to annoy them with.

The three boys had their fun playing commando and rigorously going over their shooting proficiency through the different courses that they laid out. It was a good exercise, as Ranma earned the respect of his fellow peers by holding his own and garnering a respect for his own partner as a trained operator that he himself had a lot to learn from. It was another simple truth revealed, in the end Ranma was just a special homicide detective and Jackson was a world class SpecWar operator.

The only surprise though was that Ranma saw that Hanako hadn't shot a single round or participated in a single exercise they did except for talking to Sousuke and occasionally instructing Jackson while he was resting from shooting. The most attention she gave his way was a tilt of the head or an appreciative nod. He was almost right, as she definitely didn't look like the type to be holding a rifle or a pistol. But he couldn't shake off the feeling that she was obviously more than she let on as she must have been here by some merit. She was incredibly mysterious, even more so as he hung out with her till the end of their time on the training grounds. Her profession was a mystery even to Jackson. It wasn't till they parted ways that Ranma even began to wonder how old she was, as his recollection seemed to point that she was at the very least the same age but likely older than himself.

Sousuke was a combat reconnaissance soldier through and through. That much he could tell. He learned he was barely 18 years old and his job was also highly clandestine as well. What little he learned of this young soldier was his professional conduct didn't let up even when Ranma tried to fraternize with him. The particularly nasty cross scar he sported on his left cheek said something about his rigid personality and his shaggy hair made him look like a Class-A dirt bag of the Special Forces variety. This young specialist impressed him even further when he revealed he was proficient in no less than five different languages (Japanese, Mandarin, Russian, English, and Farsi), but it was even more impressive when Sousuke admitted that pretty little Hanako held an indistinguishable native tongue to even more.

At the end of the day, it was hard to swallow the truth. When it came down to finesse and training, these three probably left him in the dust.

Ranma wondered once more what other juicy details hovered around his job that he didn't quite have a grasp on seeing as how his own boss had hinted that their group was tied to an intelligence bureau. It wasn't in his immediate interest to scourge for more. It was his job to do what he was told and poke where he could poke.

"I gotta hand it to you Jackson," Ranma said nodding his head in disbelief as he was in the passenger seat of their station wagon. "You're fucking good. You are FUCK-ING good."

"Thanks, I wish I had stayed as sharp the other night."

"How did you ever get recruited to this job? Your talent is a bit wasted here, no?"

"I was selected by Commander Takayama directly. Like you, I was brought in because I'm Japanese. I accepted because our unit is the first of its kind in modern Japan. Who the hell gets to do what we get to do?"

Ranma nodded. "I came here because I missed Japan. I didn't have too much left in America."

"I can think of all sorts of people who would shit bricks knowing a guy like you even existed. The curse alone opens a world of opportunities."

"I can't even believe how I turned out the way I did myself, Jackson," he replied. "So I'm guessing the reason you never killed or shot anybody was because you were a sniper?"

Jackson nodded reluctantly. "I was always the recon guy, going in as a scout and planning out the details for the group. Oh, I went on a few raids here and there. But you know from experience not every hostage situation or terrorist incident ends in a firefight."

"I've been more unlucky there than lucky, but I know what you mean."

"I've seen some fire fights through the end of the scope but I've never had to pull the trigger. I never felt like I was missing out though. I did some hairy shit too. Going in on your own and infiltrating the enemy without getting caught was my specialty."

This piqued Ranma's interest. "So you can break in and enter and spy on people and all that cloak and dagger shit?"

Jackson laughed. "I was trained by the best, and I was one of the best. I could set up recon on a subject under just about any circumstance for you."

"You know what Jackson? This could be the start of a beautiful relationship."

***

April 21st, 2001.

Tous Les Jour Café – Tokyo, Japan. 4:26 PM.

The excuse she was told sounded so irresponsible it was actually amusing. Here was Ranma wearing a perfectly pressed dress shirt and slacks but smelled foul of gunpowder to her sharp nose. Why was she working while he had all the fun again?

"At least today was a Saturday," Kiyone murmured as she sipped her espresso. She surreptitiously eyed Ranma with a glare that could melt an iceberg.

He sat in his seat, smiling like he had done nothing wrong.

"Those kids aren't so bad when their teacher isn't dressed like a skank," Kiyone said, with a hint of disdain.

"I'm sorry, I really am. I had some business to attend to earlier. I'm sorry I had to leave you alone like that."

"Hung over but you go on a shooting tour, huh? And what exactly were you hung over from anyway? I've seen you drink before. Must have been bad if it was something you couldn't handle the next morning."

Ranma mentally winced as he glanced into Kiyone's eyes and thought about the night before. "Drinking got a little out of control last night. I'm sorry."

She noticed he didn't mention that he wouldn't do it again. "Can't be a cop when you're a drunkard, right?"

"Right," he replied back, a little stung as he caught the underhanded sermon.

"That's some real horseshit," she said, clucking her tongue. "Quite frankly I'm disappointed. I thought you were a pro. You act like a pro. Yet what you did this morning doesn't exactly reflect that you are in fact supposed to be a fucking pro!"

If there was something he could pull on her, he would've used it. But she

had him cornered. "All I can say is I'm sorry. I'll say it over and over. I'm sorry."

"I've been a cop for eight years, Ranma. Whether we're from the same planet or not, I know what's right and what's wrong. You usually leave your partners hanging like that?"

"No!" he shot back, nearly shouting. "The drinking was reckless of me. Like I said, all I can do is apologize. Other than that, what I had to do this morning was important. There was a lot of stuff I had to be briefed about."

"I wasn't accusing you of being a bad partner. That wasn't my intention."

Ranma nodded. "I know. I fucked up."

"Who were you with last night, drinking that late?"

"Just an old friend."

Kiyone glanced at her fingernails, and then took a sip of her coffee. "Yeah, I forgot you're from Nerima."

"It's been years, yes."

"She have a good time with you?"

"I stopped by my old home and saw the dojo running. Man, was that a sight to see."

Kiyone nodded. Her casual slip to find out if Ranma had been hanging out with a girl worked. The nonchalance of Ranma ignoring it was enough to fuel her suspicion.

"You hear about the SAT raid up in Hokkaido? Some high ranking inspector was shut down after he started making all kinds of noise about a secret raid that went wrong and got a couple of guys hurt real bad. I heard about it from Mihoshi."

"Yeah, I heard about it too just this morning. Didn't know it was leaked, though. How did Mihoshi hear about it?"

"Mihoshi's a dumbass but she isn't left in the dark about much. Leave it to her talkative nature to know about a lot of dirty laundry in the police."

"She's nowhere near as dumb as she seems, I can kinda sense it."

"You said you didn't know it leaked. Is it something your agency is affiliated with?"

Ranma looked at her for a moment and then looked at the ground. He justified to himself that he owed her a little bit of extended trust for screwing up and being covered for it.

"Alright, I can't play twenty questions with you, and I can't tell you every little thing. So what I tell you, you keep to yourself, and that's all. Got it?"

Kiyone nodded.

"The raid up north went bad because a small outfit of Yakuza were there for a suspected arms pickup that was not related to what we're working on down here. The MaxFor agent responsible for Hokkaido suggested that every precaution be taken and they deployed an SAT unit. If they had used regular police officers, it would've been slaughter."

"Yeah, I can imagine. Those guys are good too."

"They were reassured that it would've been a cakewalk and got careless. That's why our guy sacked the dumb shit inspector in charge and took over. A couple of things aren't adding up, and we think it's part of something bigger. We have some guys working on figuring out a traceable pattern to this because we feel there is one already under our noses."

"Weapons stockpiling?"

"Yeah. And more than that. We're investigating all possible smuggling routes, and trying to see if there are dots to be connected."

"Japan has quite a few individual weapons charges all over. It could be a crapshoot."

"I don't have to do all the statistical research. We have people for that. And besides, common sense tells you that it takes a hell of lot more than shoddy old smuggled handguns to take on an SAT unit. There's more than a few concerns with all of this."

Kiyone sipped her espresso again, and then sighed. "Let's stop talking about work. I'm sick of it."

"You're right," Ranma replied. He picked up his green tea and sipped on it slowly. "Let's enjoy this Saturday."

"I like Sundays. Sunday is one day I can really forget about everything else and enjoy myself. I'm used to working on Saturdays, so this wasn't too bad a stretch." Kiyone grabbed a French pastry from a dish in front of her and took a bite. The buttery delicacy looked as delicious as it was gorgeously presented.

Ranma perked his head up, and propped his chin on top of his hands. "You feel like doing anything tomorrow? Maybe lunch or dinner?"

"Nah, I think I'll just go back home with Mihoshi and relax," she curtly replied.

"Come on, we'll go somewhere nice. Just you and me. How about it?"

Kiyone looked at her nails uninterestedly. "I'm not a cheap and easy date," she quipped with a smile.

"I'll take you to an expensive place that's difficult to get in, maybe that'll work?"

Kiyone chuckled. "Alright, alright." She still pouted a bit inside. "But not tomorrow. Maybe sometime later this week."

Ranma sighed. Maybe this was karma.

***

April 21st, 2001.

Office of the Director Finances and Assets - 38th floor War Dept, Japanese Defense Agency - Tokyo, Japan. 5:02 PM.

A gumball sized aspirin wouldn't save her from the headache this conversation was giving her, Nabiki thought as she clutched her head.

"I told you impatient bastards before. Don't go around flashing guns in public until the transactions are DONE," she hissed.

The other end of the secure phone line was equally irate. "Tendo-san, anything short of us killing off all of our men is not going to stop them from behaving. We've done what we can to discipline them, it's under control."

"Yeah, you've done a real swell job," she sarcastically quipped. "I'm sure the media coverage of your murdered lieutenants was just a hiccup right? So next time when I see an entire group of your gangsters getting international exposure on C-N-Fucking-N for exclusive coverage of a weapons stockpile, I should just sit here smiling right?"

"I don't have to take this tone of voice with you, Tendo. Snags happen in this line of business." His voice shook with barely contained contempt. "It should be us wondering if you've done your fucking job, not ours. One of our pros checked the Juuban massacre. He said it was similar to a military operation."

Nabiki didn't miss a beat. "Like I didn't worry about that myself? I have dangerous stakes running on this too, you know. Don't treat me like I'm some flunky with ready-to-chop pinkies left to spare. I've poked around as much as I could without anyone getting suspicious. No one knows who did what. Our best guess is you have a rival clan out for you."

"Do you have any idea how many tens of millions of yen we've lost just this past week on seizures? And it happens out of nowhere too. Several of the men who work for me are dead. Are you telling me you had nothing to do with this?"

The accusations only aggravated her migraine. Nabiki knew she was going to have a difficult time on the phone when she realized she would be talking to this blowhard. "Have you been snorting too much of your own product? Yes, that's exactly what I am telling you. I had absolutely nothing to do with your blown drugs."

"We have millions riding on this-"

"We have millions riding on this and that is why I am switching up the next shipment into clustered packages so that we can protect our assets." Nabiki mentally screamed. How was this guy such a moron?

The voice on the other end sounded genuinely impressed and confused. "How? On such short notice?"

"Hokkaido's no good since the police and our Maritime Forces will probably be on alert. Most of the package is still going to be sent through a major port for pickup. But you'll also receive several hundred rifles, pistols, and other small arms by alternate channels. In good faith, I'll take a pay cut by spending my own dough to freight it to your people in places that have worked before. Uraga Harbor will still be the big one. It's shipping out as we speak."

The voice sighed. "I appreciate that, Nabiki. The boss will definitely appreciate your resourcefulness."

"Don't tell me not to fuck up. YOU assholes have to watch your own. I've already sent an encoded letter to you for the times of the smaller packages by location. It also has the tracking data for the freighter ship as well as the cargo manifesto. Your men should know the rest. The smaller ones are going to be sent early, in the next few days in fact. Any more publicity before I get my money is something I'm not going to risk full price for. I expect the same courtesy from you as well."

"IF what you speak of comes through early, I give you my word you will be paid the rest of your dues."

"You try your best and I do my best, Itoh-san. Just try not to give them out to every itchy trigger finger in your clan."

***

April 23rd, 2001.

46th floor, JNSA Headquarters – Tokyo, Japan. 7:02 PM.

Ranma rubbed the back of his head as Jackson and Takayama continued to talk to him. Those damn bullies at Furinkan had a field day with him, "punishing" him for ditching school on the second day he was there.

"Something bothering you there, Ranma?" Jackson asked, who had noticed him brooding.

"Oh, nothing," Ranma lied. "Well, actually it's this fucking undercover. Damn kids at the school think I'm a geek and they bullied the shit out of me. And there's not a thing I can do about it."

Takayama clucked his tongue. "Your idea, your assignment. You and your lady cop friend haven't gotten shit out of it, so it's your investment."

Jackson chuckled as Ranma blew a frustrated breath.

"Yes, sir," Ranma replied. Kiyone had it much easier, he realized. She managed to finagle her way out of teaching the morning periods, and got to nap in the teacher's lounge while he had to masquerade all day as a student.

"Ok, so while the other MaxFor agents have been unlucky with our other shipping ports, it's your guys' turn tomorrow night. Our intel should turn up a hit sooner or later." Takayama continued. "Although few, these ports are all relatively ignored and the times we're observing them is when the Maritime JDSF are patrolling elsewhere. They must be utilizing one of these gaps, somewhere. It's the only way to get in a huge shipment of goods illegally, short of a mass conspiracy."

"Are we going to enlist the support of local authorities for assistance?" Ranma asked. Jackson nodded to the question, curious as well.

"No," Takayama answered. "We're going to keep these ops K-I-S-S. No leaks, and no complications in case you guys have to take a bunch of people out in a firefight, just in case. You can risk it if you want, but look at the complications we have to deal with because of that Bokutou police shooting. You handled it the best you could've, Saotome. I'm not saying you fucked up. But fact of the matter is it does complicate things."

"Yeah, I know." Ranma could relate to what his boss was getting at.

"Only thing that sucks is Nagoya is so far away," Jackson said.

Takayama got up from his seat. "It's a shame that Ranma has to come back for his undercover work in the morning, otherwise you guys can just stay in Nagoya for the night or for a few days. Have some fun."

"That's fine," Ranma said, waving his arms. "Is there a cafeteria in this building? I'm starving."

Jackson nodded. "Sure, there's one on the fourth floor, I think. I'll join you."

"Me too," Takayama said. "I haven't had dinner yet."

Ranma led the way to the elevator. He pressed the button and waited with Jackson and Takayama. His mind kept wandering between Kiyone and his little drunken mishap from a few nights ago.

"Is it wrong to sleep with one of your friends when you're drunk?" Ranma asked out aloud.

Jackson slowly turned his head at Ranma with wide eyes. "I know you turn into a girl and all, but I ain't gonna sleep with you even in your girl form since I know you're a guy."

Ranma rolled his eyes. "Man, FUCK YOU."

Takayama barely kept himself from bursting out laughing. "Hey, as long as you're not married or hitched to another woman, I don't see why not. At my age you don't even get chances like that anymore."

"I think this girl I've been interested in knows I did something funny, even though I'm not going out with her or anything."

"She acting jealous or hard to get?" Jackson asked.

"Something like that, yeah," Ranma murmured.

Takayama looked at him, as if he were expecting something. "So, did you fuck your friend or something, or what?"

"Wha-?" Ranma was taken aback.

"You going to tell us or not? Quit brooding like a little sissy."

This time Jackson was grinning, and he was trying hard not to laugh.

Ranma rolled his eyes again and sighed. "Well, yeah. Sorta. I slept with my best friend. She had a thing for me a long time ago, and I hadn't been laid in a long time. We both got drunk."

Jackson shook his head. "I don't see the problem. Was she ugly or something? Is that why you asked is it wrong to sleep with your friend?"

"No! It's not like that. She's actually real good looking," Ranma sharply said.

"You're young, you should enjoy it while you can," Takayama said, shrugging his shoulders. "You think this other girl found out about it?"

"Well, no. Not really. I don't know." Ranma shrugged, confused. "She hasn't said anything outright. There's something definitely up with her."

Jackson frowned, and looked at Ranma from the corner of his eye. "You know, I never would've guessed you're a guy with girl problems. Don't seem like the type."

Ranma blinked.

***

April 24th, 2001.

Nagoya Port, Docking Station #02XX - Nagoya, Japan. 11:00 PM.

"There's another sentry pass by that third freighter, 350 meters."

"Got him," Ranma said as he looked through his binoculars. He tried to readjust his earpiece with his pinky, but it was lodged in there beyond reach.

"I don't like these sub-vocal earpieces," Ranma said. The mic was built into the earpiece. "What if it permanently damages my eardrum?"

Jackson rolled his eyes from his position above Ranma, on the dock tower's steel roof. "Those have been around for a while, and the ones in your ears are cutting edge pieces of technology. They're meant to be extracted with a tool later, that's why it's in there for cover. No one can see it, and no one can hear it but you."

"Alright, alright. I'm still trying to get used to all this crazy spy shit," Ranma replied, looking around at all their equipment. It wasn't a whole lot, but there were several complicated antenna arrays and boxy modules connected to a small laptop on the ground. Jackson explained to him that it was surveillance equipment to detect any electronic signals in the area so that they could listen in and observe, as well as counter-surveillance to see if they were the ones being tracked. Another interesting little toy was a laser-mic, that Jackson had next to him on the roof. It allowed long distance eavesdropping by detecting vibrations of objects from people talking.

They were in a completely dark and deserted area of the ship yard, a section of the port that was being prepared for renovation. They couldn't afford to have anyone be able to see where they were. Even a laptop, with the small amount of light that it emitted from its screen, had to placed on the ground so that it couldn't be seen through any of the glass windows.

"So by my count, that gives us 17 people in the area, and four confirmed to be armed. We got lucky real quick, Ranma. This has to be a drop."

Ranma heard through his earpiece the sound of his MSG90 being chambered and checked by Jackson. They had earlier agreed that Jackson would be better suited to provide him cover and security, while Ranma infiltrated under the shadows. Jackson couldn't pass up another chance to use Ranma's mysteriously modified rifle, and was more amazed with the attached suppressor. "How far along is that goddamn ship through the water? Is it close yet?"

"Hmph," Jackson scoffed. "They're not taking any chances. They're crawling up to the port with their lights all off. No wonder the port authorities never caught them."

Ranma nodded. A smallish 70 foot cargo boat quietly slipstreamed through the calm black water surrounded by a massive complex of cargo freight containers that were empty and abandoned along the port. There were no huge spotlights, and only a single kerosene lamp to illuminate the cargo drop off area where their targets were lingering. The crescent moon illuminated everything below just enough for a set of keen eyes to make out shapes on the corroded concrete harbor. The clouds in the sky though were slowly moving, and it looked like near-total darkness would fall upon them all real soon.

"Remember, Captain. Although it's unlikely, I need you to find out if any of these assholes have infrared goggles. If I try to laser-mic 'em they'll see me and our cover's blown. Be careful of that fucking boat too. I can't tell too well from here even with NVG, but I think that's a PT boat. Looks American made."

"Are those easy to find or something?" Ranma asked. He adjusted his own night vision module to his G36K rifle as an attachment to the sights. He didn't want to use goggles, as he had no training with them whatsoever.

"You can find salvaged PT boats in the Southeastern seas. Most of them are remnants of the Vietnam War. But they're like 30-40 years old at least."

This got him worried. Although he had highly doubted that all 17 people on the dock were armed and dangerous, the port was cluttered enough to get some cover while Jackson could cover Ranma with some sniper fire. But if the boat was to get in on the fight...

"Jackson, what kind of firepower do those old PT boats have? I'm sure they've outfitted them, right?"

"They're torpedo boats, but those are no good here. But it probably has some rotating turrets, .50 cal or bigger. Not much cover against those. Whoever's the courier, they're fucking pros. It takes some balls to sneak in a 70 foot war boat like that into the country."

Ranma grimaced. He liked the idea of a challenge, but knew when to be reasonable. "I have a question for you, Jackson. And it's your call. Do we go on or abort? This was a lot more than I anticipated."

Jackson stayed quiet on the other end of the mic. Ranma could hear him breathing heavily through his earpiece.

"Here's what I think. We've already scoured the entire area and know that the Maritime JSDF aren't anywhere near here. That's probably why they anticipated choosing this port. We get ourselves into a firefight, then that gives plenty of time for every party to duke it out or escape."

"Go on."

"I never underestimate my opponents, and I'm willing to bet if that ship was good enough to sneak in, they're good enough to bail the hell out of here in a pinch if they need. Provided that we don't directly pick a fight with them."

"You don't think they'll help their clients fight?"

"I'm not saying they won't give us some trouble, but they'll be running away while doing it."

Ranma nodded. "That poses another problem."

"Which is?"

"I don't want that boat to get away. We don't want to provoke it either, and I don't think we have the means to detain it either. So what do we do about that?"

"Let me think." Jackson looked out again into the darkness to check where the boat was. It was still floundering slowly in the harbor. "We have enough time. Let me come down."

Jackson engaged the safety of his rifle and let it rest on its bipod. He slowly slipped backwards out of his cover blanket making sure that the matte black tarp covered the optical lens of the rifle scope. He climbed down an exposed roof hatch and dropped down to where Ranma was standing in the tower. Both faced each other in their black tactical apparels.

"So what were you planning on doing?" Ranma asked.

"Gonna contact Commander Takayama." Jackson took off his balaclava and brushed his hand through his hair. He dropped to the laptop on the ground and got out his phone.

Ranma watched as Jackson fiddled with the laptop and talked on the phone at the same time.

Jackson put away his phone and clicked something on the laptop, transmitting something. "I've got permission from the boss to arrange satellite photo tracking. I sent the coordinates and all of our recon data. It's costly, but it looks like our only way. We'll intercept that boat later outside of Japan."

"We can do that? Who's going to help us out of Japan? Isn't that international jurisdiction?"

"Takayama has some clout when it comes to that sort of thing. Smuggling foreign weapons into country seems like an international matter, no?"

"So I learn," Ranma said, unsure. He understood why they couldn't just chase the damn thing, as they would've cancelled the entire delivery much earlier if they suspected there were any maritime forces nearby. "Can't we just place a GPS tracker or something instead of doing something so complicated?"

"They probably have their own counter-surveillance equipment onboard for that sort of thing. We would only be able to track them for a few hours at best before they find it and toss it. And not to mention we don't even have a tracker to plant, and planting it without tossing it onboard like a bunch of amateurs is a whole 'nother deal. We need a SCUBA recon for that."

"Well, if they have all that can't they listen in to our earpieces and know we're surveying the electronic signals in the air ourselves?"

"We're on short burst encrypted radios that crackle like random spurts of static. That's why I had to come down and send our data manually, because we don't have a live uplink that can be traced to our location. All this stuff I brought with us is the latest in military technology. CIA shit. If they can lock on to this, we have bigger problems. Like facing another nation's intelligence operation."

"I get it, I get it. I just didn't know we could access something like that on a whim. The eye in the sky, right?"

"Damn right." Jackson went back up the ceiling hatch to climb back up to his sniping post.

"Let's do this," Ranma said, cocking his rifle and securing his pistol. His rifle had the suppressor securely locked on as well as his new 1911. The tactical holster hanging low on his hip was designed to allow the pistol suppressor to stick out on his thigh. Double checking his equipment, he felt ready and walked out to the tower's skywalk and jumped down about four stories.

Jackson had curiously crawled over to the edge of the flat roof's platform to see why the hell his partner had went out the sidewalk, and gasped as he saw him jump down in suicide. He was even more flabbergasted when he saw Ranma landing gracefully, crouched on his feet and without making any noise.

"Did you just jump down 15 fucking meters on the ground?" Jackson hissed.

"Damn right," Ranma whispered, grinning. "Alright, I'm heading out. Watch my back."

"Roger." Jackson propped his cheek on the rifle stock and piggy backed the scope crosshairs on Ranma's shoulders, following him around. His left eye stayed open, observing the rest of the peripheral area. Earlier, upon his insistence, Jackson convinced Ranma to allow him to change the rifle scope to a variable power Schmidt and Bender, so that Jackson could adjust for short range and long range target acquisition. His left fingers finely adjusted the zoom of the lens as he tracked Ranma circling around the port. He was behind a large container with a lone Yakuza sentry standing near the dock gates. He was guarding the front door for everyone.

"Alright, you're about twenty meters out. Check six."

Ranma gave a thumbs up above his shoulder, which Jackson saw. He went the other way around to see if there was another way in, and short of being exposed through a chain link fence, there were none. He quietly made his way to the end of his container and peered around the corner, where he saw a Yakuza guarding the dock gate entrance. Ranma's eyes bulged when he saw what the gangster was holding, an M16 with a 30 round magazine. When they observed him earlier he had been holding a handgun, but apparently there was a rifle that he had tucked away against the fence that they had missed.

"Jackson, do you see that?" Ranma whispered as quietly as he could. "The guy's packing an M16. Where the hell do you think they got that?"

"Beats the shit out of me. Want me to take him out?"

Ranma peered around the corner again. The guy was far enough that he would be able to make a ruckus even if Ranma tried to subdue him quietly, and he also didn't want to take a chance against an AR rifle. He would take the shot himself, but a sniper was much safer. "What about his background? Can you make the shot without ricocheting the bullet?"

Jackson looked to see if anything could potentially cause a ricochet echo. "There's a concrete wall behind him, the round will lodge there. But he's gonna drop and his rifle is going to clatter on the ground, he's going to be making noise regardless."

"He has a shoulder strap on. It won't clatter. How far away is the rest of them?"

"The patrol sentry is walking away right now, and the last one is at the front waiting for the ship. Wait a few moments for him to circle back towards the ship port. The rest of them are at least 70 meters away from you. They shouldn't hear a thing."

"Smoke him." Ranma peered around the corner, his rifle at low ready. He stood there silently and unnoticed, nearly holding his breath for what seemed like an eternity. He heard a very faint whistle in the air and saw the guard's face imploding from his nose. The back of his head bloomed open with an explosive confetti of brain matter. His body dropped like a puppet with its strings cut, legs crumpled under the weight of his body.

Ranma ran over to the corpse, and immediately kicked it over to grab a hold of the legs. He heard Jackson breathing heavily through his earpiece. "Shush, shush. Calm down, Jackson. Breathe easy, you did a great job. Remember this is what you trained for your whole life."

Ranma heard his earpiece go silent and sighed. He dragged the dead body in front of him to a storm drain, and moved as quickly as possibly so that the blood from the corpse wouldn't spread a huge mess. Ranma tried not to look at this nameless thug's face, as it was shredded inwards and the grotesque sinew and bone hanging with his flesh glistened in the low light. The poor bastard's eyelids were partially stuck open, his eyes also mulched by the violent, high velocity impact of a steel jacketed 7.62mm round flying into his medulla oblongata at 2,800 feet per second. No movie in the world could accurately depict the absolutely gory outcome of a human being subjected to a rifle head shot. Ranma dragged the body so the perforated void of his skull could hemorrhage into an ocean drain on the dipped concrete ground. He looked at the trail of sticky, dark red blood dragged from his origin of doom.

"This one didn't have any IR goggles. I'm willing to bet the others don't either."

Jackson cleared his throat. "I just checked out the ship too. They have no imaging equipment whatsoever on board either. They're docked in the port. I'm going to fire up the laser-mic."

"I'm going to get closer. Thanks for watching my back, Jackson."

"I've got your six covered anytime, Ranma." Jackson felt proud that he could put his skills to use for good, even though it meant the horror of taking another's life.

Ranma sneaked around the edges of the fence and used the freight containers as cover. Visibility was difficult with all the shadows, but it was no different from training in the forests when he was younger. He found a suitable spot on the edge of the last container closest to the water. He was close enough to see everyone involved, but wasn't within earshot of any of them.

Jackson's voice crackled in his earpiece. "There's three subjects from the boat. An older black guy, a young Asian in a white shirt and tie, and an Asian woman in shorts. Black male is armed with a shotgun, possibly automatic. Asian male is holding a pistol. Female is brandishing two pistols. They're loading off some crates with a crane."

"I see one of em," Ranma whispered in a dead hush. He propped up his rifle to look through the night vision scope, and he could make out two figures standing on the boat. The woman however was on the dock, keeping an eye out on the people around her. She looked quite young, no older than her mid twenties. The advanced fourth generation night vision scope gave incredible clarity to detail. He could see she was wearing a black tank-top that revealed a tribal tattoo design on her right shoulder sleeved down to her arm, and her denim shorts were high enough to be considered swimwear. Her eyes looked dead serious as she watched the goods from the boat transfer to her clients.

"If I didn't know any better, I'd say she's acting like she's the muscle," Jackson said. He whistled appreciatively, as he focused the crosshair on her. She had some gall to be confidently holding a pistol in each hand when she was probably surrounded by guys with machine guns.

Ranma nodded and smiled, his crosshair focused on her head. He watched as some of the men on the dock opened up the crates to inspect the goods.

"I think I've deducted who are the dockworkers and who are the bad guys," Jackson chirped in again. "One of the crates is filled to the brim with bags of something. I'm guessing drugs. The other one..."

Ranma quietly crawled back completely out of view and tried to see if he could get another angle to see what was happening. He didn't have much choice, and decided to rely on Jackson.

"Well, bingo. Looks like the other one is filled with guns. And look, they're bringing out more."

Peering from around the corner of the container again, Ranma saw that there were still another three crates to be unloaded from the ship.

"This doesn't look good, Captain. I'm seeing AK-47s, FN FALs, RPGs, HK G3s, and a shit load of assorted small arms. These look like old stockpiled weapons."

"Any American or western military makes?" Ranma whispered.

"Shit. The other crates have some assorted MAC 10s, AR variants, and I'll be damned even some M60s and recoilless rifles. There's too much to tell. It looks like they're talking amongst themselves. I can't hear right now, we'll hear from the laser-mic later."

"Where's that patrol sentry, is he coming near me?"

"Good thing you remembered. You're gonna see him in about one minute."

Ranma rested his rifle against the container behind the one he was hiding and leaned his body against it. He went into an elusive trance like his Umisen-ken, and hid his complete presence. He could hear the guard walking by, and knew exactly where he'd be coming from. He and Jackson had observed that the guard had been instructed to walk in the same circle over and over, and hadn't bothered to check with the gate once. This time was no exception, as no one had noticed the gate sentry was dead.

The moment he saw the guard's neck visible as he took a step forward Ranma's left hand struck forward and he jammed his thumb onto a point in his neck as he grabbed his throat. Ranma had applied a quick and jarring pressure point to silently knock him unconscious, and laid him on the ground quietly to spare him.

Jackson watched the sentry from his scope get taken out in the blink of an eye as he had trained his crosshairs on him. His observation left eye noticed that one of the men on the dock was scurrying to the darkened corridor between the containers. Specifically the one Ranma was hiding in. He quickly pivoted to point his rifle and warn Ranma with his comm.

"Ranma, there's someone--!"

-----------------

Kobayashi quietly excused himself to his brothers as the call of nature beckoned. They had been hanging around this dock for a while, and they had been given detailed instructions on checking the place out and securing it so that no one would know they were here.

They'd done this a few times now here at the exact same port, so Kobayashi figured it would just be another night of picking up the goods and it would be payday. At least tonight was a bit more interesting compared to the previous pickups he had to accompany. The girl who had come off the ship was scary, but boy was she a looker. Even in the dark he could see that.

The guy in the business attire on board had thrown them a two way radio and had been translating things for the transaction between the ship's crew and their Aniki. All Kobayashi knew was that this particular smuggling ship had delivered the biggest of the shipments to their family as of late, and that they didn't have to squabble about payments because the Oroshi clan trusted their success and paid in full in advance. He grabbed onto his pistol that he stuffed down his belt as he briskly walked to the back of one of the containers, unzipping his fly at the same time. The only thing he was worried about tonight was that a hired gun for the family was supposed to be with them tonight to oversee the drop but was nowhere to be seen. He just shook his head and figured it wasn't his concern.

Kobayashi went far enough to see into the shadows and saw in the dark a man being laid on the ground by another, and a rifle resting against the container.

"Th--!"

---------------

Ranma nearly dropped the guard's limp body when he heard Jackson's voice screeching through his earpiece. Simultaneously he looked up and saw a terrified face, holding a pistol that was lodged in his belt with one hand and the other on his mid-zipped fly.

"Ranma, there's someone coming from the other end!"

"There's an intruder! Guys—"

In one quick draw Ranma pulled out his pistol from his tactical holster, disengaging the safety with his right thumb as he squared his sights on the yelling man's throat. He popped two suppressed shots in succession, one through his vocal cords that silenced his alarm and another between his eyes, placed conveniently by the recoil of the first shot.

Jackson instinctively got off two rounds onto Kobayashi's torso as he was already dropping from being shot by Ranma, and then focused on the pandemonium that was breaking out on the dock. Things switched to FUBAR real quick.

Ranma grabbed his rifle and retreated towards the rear containers away from the harbor and the ship, knowing full well that he was about to get caught up in a shit storm. He heard a woman in English screaming, "We're gettin' the fuck outta hear!"

As Ranma made his retreat, Jackson focused his rifle on a couple of men who were already scrambling to search for his partner. One of the things they had dearly hoped against seemed to be true, most of the men on the ground were armed. This was bad.

Jackson picked off two men running towards the containers, shooting in double taps and taking advantage of the rifle's recoilless ability.

The ship's crew knew immediately that a sniper had taken down two men in front of them and they activated a massive array of floodlights that were installed on the boat. Without a hitch, he aimed for the source of the lights and tried to take them out.

Ranma set his rifle to full-auto and positioned himself around the corner of the furthest container. He heard the girl from the ship yell again, "Aim for the tower! That's the only place they can be!"

The massive diesel whir of the PT boat fired up and belched on, signaling their intent to escape whatever trouble their clients might have attracted. They unloaded all their cargo and fulfilled their mission. Now all they had to do was cover their own asses as they escape.

Jackson managed to take out three of the floodlights when he saw the unmistakable flash of machine gun fire burping out of the boat's twin defensive turrets. He quickly rolled off the roof and landed on his back on the metal catwalk of the tower, barely escaping the buzz of several .50 cal Browning Machine Guns. The boat only made a quick burst of fire and was already on its way out of the port, splitting the waterway with its size as it hastily made its getaway. Even without the machine gun fire Jackson had to get away, his sniping spot was blown.

Ranma hosed a Yakuza gangster who had been running with a pistol in his hand, and took out another who was firing wildly at him. Neither were a match for a barrage of automatic fire from his G36.

A ricocheted shot sparked from a container in front of him was a signal for him to drop to the ground, as several more rapid fire shots followed his way as he rolled out of the way for his life. He swiveled on the ground and got cover against the closest container, and he saw that the shots were coming from aboard the PT boat as it was getting away. Ranma aimed his rifle and switched to semi-auto, his eyes focused through the G36's built in proprietary optics. The shots came from the girl, and he could see she was reloading her pistols as quick as she could, standing openly on the boat deck. Ranma fired several shots at her although the boat was moving, and got a round above her right breast, close to the shoulder joint. She dropped and Ranma was greeted with a returning barrage of .50 cal fire from the boat, which pierced through the containers and any concrete blockage with brutal ease.

Ranma sprinted away for his life and into the open where everyone else could see him. He tried to shoot what he could as he ran for the containers on the other side for cover, but hit nothing. Most of the men were busy loading up the crates onto trucks, but there were three more men who had some heavy firepower firing his way. Ranma screamed as a rifle round hit his back but was stopped by an armor plate and vest, but it was painful nonetheless as he dove for cover.

"Jackson where the hell are you! I need covering fire!"

"That motherfucking boat was firing on me and I had to displace! I'm coming for you!"

Ranma gasped as he tried to scratch off the searing pain on his back where the round had hit. He had been shot several times before, but for some reason he was panicking this time. He reached the edge of the container and had his rifle drawn at the direction he came, making sure no one was running after him. He saw one truck smashing its way out through the chain link fence, its pickup bed filled with drugs and weapons. He was walking backwards when he felt a cold barrel on the back of his bare neck. He heard the unmistakable sound of a hammer being cocked. Ranma had carelessly forgotten to check around the corner he was approaching.

The owner of the pistol on his neck spoke. "Say goodnight-"

Ranma crumpled on the ground when he heard a gunshot loud enough to make him go blind and deaf. He screamed as he fell, thinking he was dead. When he opened his eyes he saw white dots that focused out as quickly as they had appeared. He frantically touched the back of his head, sure he had been shot, and looked at his clean hands in wonder. His eyes were shaky and he saw a black boot in front of him as he lay on the ground.

He looked up and saw an older man with an M4 carbine in military fatigues complete with tiger striped camouflage painted on his face. His hand was stretched out and offered to Ranma.

"Captain Ranma Saotome? Major Chris Hideo Kurosawa, United States Marine Corps. At your service."

[End Chapter 6]

Disclaimer: This is fanfiction, I don't plan to make a profit out of someone else's work, just don't sue me. All respective trademarks, copyrights, whatever-rights, theirs and not mine.

Author's Ramble: I started this chapter over three years and two months ago. Can't believe it took that long to finish. Can't believe what an asshole I am for taking that long to finish. Wow. Well, hope you guys enjoyed.

Author's Notes: Okay, where do I start. There's actually a MOUNTAIN of things in this chapter.

Okay, so over the years I received quite a bit of mail with people saying that Jackson was too much of a pussy to belong to an elite counter-terrorist group. From the way I portrayed him in chapter 5, I must now say I agree. I tried to redeem him heavily in this chapter, as he is definitely a very important part of this story.

The characters of You're Under Arrest are also going to be a moderately important part of advancing the plot here, and are not here just for my own amusement. I'm especially glad now that I decided a long time ago to integrally include them in the story, especially seeing how fucking crappy the new YUA! Full Throttle series is going.

Ranma getting harassed while posing as a student and the way he gets bullied is actually a reference to a Korean movie I saw a long time ago, the English title is "My Boss, My Hero." The Korean title is "Doo Sa Boo Ilchae". Some of you might recognize it. I'm not trying to copy it step by step or anything. Just liked the bullying scenes.

And I'm sure you've also noticed that there are quite a few references to other crossovers from other series as well. Don't worry, I just wanted to make a reference to Love Hina and have no intention of further mentioning them, I only added it in for fun as a background to Ukyou's matured older character. I'm sure you also notice above what other series that ship crew is from, yeah? They'll be mentioned again in the next chapter.

Also the mention of Sousuke, of FMP! Fame, and Ms. Dosukoi. If you haven't figured out who she is by now, and I dropped a super obvious hint in there, oh well. Too bad for you. I'll just say this, they too play an important (not huge or integral though) role later in the fic. But I'm not going to whore them out and make this into a complicated multi-universe crossover fic.

And speaking of Ukyou, how did you guys like my portrayal of her as a sexier, surfing, and motorcycle riding goddess of goodness? She's always been one of my favorite characters and if I were to write a non-crossover Ranma fic to pair him up with, it'd be Ukyou hands down. Again, I added some fun bits and pieces of her to make her different but still keep her the same old Ukyou, in a way. I had lots of fun trying to figure out how she'd turn out nine years older.

Same with Ryoga, I thought it'd be interesting and fun to make him a motorcyclist... it kinda fits his adventurous personality, no?

The entire training sequence scene at the "secret" training grounds is kind of a big fun joke and of course is 100% completely fictional. I just set it up to give some background to Ranma and Jackson's abilities in tactical combat. Some of the units Ranma and Jackson throw around though, are real. The SATs are the Japanese police's version of the SWAT team. They're highly trained, and I don't mean to disrespect anybody with the way I portrayed them fictionally. It was for dramatic purposes.

Navy DevGru is basically SEAL Team 6, the all elusive and secret counter-terrorist specific SEAL Team. Delta Force, or SFOD-D, is pretty self explanatory. They're the Army's flagship counter-terrorist unit. SEAL Team 6 handles the maritime contingency, Delta covers the dry land. Of course, they can cover it all if they had to. SEAL Team 5 is also mentioned, and they are the Asian/Pacific deployed SEAL Team, so it would make sense to have them deploy in Japan too. Not sure if they do, so again I'll say it right here its not completely accurate. BUD/S is mentioned for the second time in this fic, in reference to Ranma's supposed SEAL training in Coronado, California. Here, he reveals his special circumstances in which he was given such training. Let me first say first and foremost, it is not my intention to disrespect ANYONE from the armed forces, and that this is only a fic and things are purposefully dramatized. There is no way in hell that an outsider from the US Navy (other than a few, VERY few select foreign exchange SpecOps soldiers) are allowed to be in BUD/S. BUD/S is the Basic Underwater Demolition/SEAL training course given by the US Navy Special Warfare Command. There are two BUD/S training sites, Coronado, California down where San Diego is, and in Norfolk, Virginia. I know I'm doing a real disservice in downplaying the difficulty and honor of BUD/S even for the sake of Ranma in a dramatization of a fanfic, so again I apologize for that.

Forgive me if I made the whole nightclub drinking scene with Ukyou too banal. It was actually fun for me and possibly the most challenging part of this entire chapter to write out and execute.

And it seems the plot thickens with Nabiki, doesn't it? Makes me wonder how I'd like to stage her outcome, whether for good or bad.

Hoho, and oh yes. Finally the mention of yet ANOTHER new character, who is also going to be very important. And I guarantee you guys will like him. I've always liked the Marine Corps, and wanted to somehow give them a mention of a sort in my fic. Major Kurosawa is that answer. I'll just drop this one little hint. Force Recon. Ever watch the movie Shooter or The Rock?

So until next time, whenever long that may be, look forward to chapter 7 of Officer Saotome, which will be titled "Sins of the Sister". You can guess where that's leading to, right? I know it's a long wait and all, and I want to thank any of you who have stuck through since when I first started writing and continue to read my work. Also want to thank anyone in general who takes the time to read my work. I really appreciate it. It's hard to believe it's been seven years since I started this hobby.

PLEASE, PLEASE, PLEASE SEND ME FEEDBACK!!! I write way faster when people give me feedback! My e-mail is .

Visit my website at .com/sgtranma for any updates, my old website at isn't around anymore, so I thought since half the damn world uses Myspace, I'd learn to use it too.

Finished December 31, 2007.


	7. 07 Sins of the Sisterhood

IMPORTANT!!!!!!! If this is the first time you're reading this fic, you must read starting from Chapter 1 completely first! This story will seem very ridiculous and out of place if you don't.

This fic is a crossover with Ranma and the Tenchi OAV/Universe series. Hopefully you readers know some basic knowledge about both Ranma and Tenchi:) Compared to movies, I would rate this as a "R" fanfic, because of some of the harsh language used.

Here are a few things you must know while reading this:

-For all of you readers, PLEASE read the notes at the end of the fic before you start flaming me for things that you don't understand or think is bogus, my notes just might answer all your questions. If that doesn't do it, feel free to pound away at my mailbox.

-The Ranma aspect of the story takes place after manga 38 and the Tenchi aspect takes place after the TV show/OVA.

-At the end of manga 38 Ranma was at the end of his sophomore year in Furinkan High School and the year is set to 1992. Don't ask why, I chose that particular date out of convenience. This is to set a timeframe where Akane and Ranma met during their lives.

-Also Ranma still has his curse, but his female form has black hair (like the manga) and is now just as tall as his male form.

-Ranma will seem very out of character, but you have to completely read from the first chapter to understand why. I guess that's what you call character development?

-SgtRanma

Please visit my website at .com/sgtranma or email me at

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Chapter 7: Sins of the Sisterhood

April 24th, 2001.

Nagoya Port, Docking Station #02XX - Nagoya, Japan. 11:32 PM.

Ranma clutched his head. He couldn't breathe, he couldn't see. He tried to scrape the crackling, pulsating scream of electricity that was scrambling his brains through his ears.

Then he felt the back of his head. His fingers prodded for a hole. His eyes lit up but all he could see were rings of white light panning out into obscurity. His entire jaw ticked and his lips trembled as he could make out a black foot in front of him. A boot.

Ranma's shell shocked reverie didn't last more than a few split seconds. He saw a hand extended out to him.

"Captain Ranma Saotome? Major Chris Hideo Kurosawa, United States Marine Corps. At your service."

Ranma yelped. He screamed a burst of primal fury as he tried to reorient his arms from his legs. The man in front of him tugged and pulled him upright as he held his M4 carbine with his other hand.

"You stay right here and cover these corners. I'll mop out the rest of this compound."

Ranma wobbled like a gyroscope knocked out of harmony when Kurosawa let him go. He propped himself with his rifle as an improvised crutch.

"Who-" Ranma gasped.

"The corners! Watch my fucking six!" Kurosawa yelled as he slipped around a huge shipping container.

"Who are you?" Ranma asked again. He felt like clutching his tightening chest. The ground still felt wobbly, but his composure was slowly coming back. He looked around, and saw the man who had just helped him up was nowhere to be found. His nocturnal vision was completely ruined, and his eyes had to readjust in the dark.

The explosive flash of a muzzle, far too close to his head, had left him like a lost lamb in the steel wilderness.

His foot lost grip as it stepped on something that felt like it was lubricated. It was difficult to make out, but his irises narrowed quickly to pierce through the veil of night. He could make out some glistening hair that was flapping on something, and he knew enough from there that it was blown scalp from a close range head shot.

Ranma held his breath as he finally walked over to the corner where Kurosawa had dashed off to. The rows of containers looked identical to the ones on the other side of the dock, where he had escaped from moments before. Everything was eerily quiet, a stark contrast to the explosions of gunfire that were still ringing in his ears.

"Ranma!"

He immediately recognized the voice. "Jackson!? Where the hell are you?!"

A concentrated beam of light danced around in midair, running towards Ranma. In another head rush of panic, Ranma raised his rifle.

"Don't fucking shoot! It's me!"

Jackson took off his balaclava and unmasked himself from the darkness. The light was from his MP5SD's Surefire light attachment.

Ranma's knees felt weak from relief when he saw his partner's face. He slung his rifle down and engaged the safety. The bright beam from the light stunned him. His gut clenched as he wondered if he would've been capable of pulling the trigger anyway.

"Jesus, Jackson. What the fuck happened?"

Jackson's eyes jumped from one side to the other as he was nervously checking around to see if there were any more surprises left. "I think they got away in the middle of all that mayhem. All I could do was shoot at moving trucks as I tried to find you. There was a guy hiding on top of a container, but I made him and tried to counter-snipe. He wasn't a sniper, and he bolted as soon as I entered the gates."

An icy tingle gripped his fear in place and Ranma's eyes darted at the top edges of the surrounding containers. "I don't think I noticed him either. What the fuck is wrong with me tonight?"

"Shell shock," Jackson said. "You're damn lucky those guns on that PT Boat didn't cut you in half."

Ranma shook his head in disbelief. "Everyone got away?" He found it hard to keep his voice from cracking.

"I'd say he's right," Kurosawa's voice popped up.

The unfamiliar voice jolted Ranma back into rigor mortis. He saw the tiger-striped soldier walking towards them from the open median of the dock.

"They dropped a few crates of cargo and only lost a few men. That fucking boat helped them get away nearly scot-free," Kurosawa said. "And yeah, that was no firefight. That PT Boat could've finished us off if it stayed."

"Thanks for helping us out, Major. Don't know where the hell you came from, but thanks," Jackson said. He saluted Kurosawa and then shook his hand as he came to join them.

"Thanks for saving my life," Ranma said, panting a little now that all the excitement seemed to be over. "I owe you one."

"Not a problem, boss. Wish I got here sooner, but I couldn't get a hold of you sons of bitches since you didn't return my fucking phone calls." Kurosawa's eyes rotated slowly to match Jackson's.

Jackson's jaw tightened for a moment. "We were busy tracking. I had my hands full."

Ranma clutched his head. "I knocked out a guy by a container on the other side. You guys get him?"

Jackson shook his head. "I saw them drag him into one of the trucks. Shit, they even took the bodies in the middle of the yard too."

"It's their own, after all." Ranma tried hard not to gawk as he looked between his partner and Kurosawa, who was quite a sight with his full battle dress and camouflage. "I'm sorry, but who the fuck are you?"

"I'll tell you everything you need to know, but we need to police this area first. I assume Jackson jammed the airwaves for our own protection, yes?"

Jackson nodded. "I'll contact MaxFor."

Ranma went along with it. For now, he just nodded as he walked over to a spot that wasn't splattered wet with blood so that he could clutch his head.

-------------------------

"That sub-vocal saved your left ear from being completely deaf. I wish I had a suppressor on me, but I was forced to use a gun that isn't from the MaxFor armory."

Ranma's ears didn't feel like they were splitting his head apart anymore, but it was apparent that his right ear would be partially deaf for a while.

Jackson ran his hands over Ranma's back and chest. "Alright, just one last check. You didn't get any holes in you. Your vitals are fine, and I don't think you have any internal bleeding. All in all, I'd say we were all lucky."

Kurosawa ran his hands over Ranma's head the same way. "No muzzle burns, no ricochet shrapnel on your noggin'."

Ranma nodded his head and gave Kurosawa a deferential smile. It was funny how both men were highly trained medics. It seemed natural that Jackson's knew first-aid since he specialized in hostage rescue. But Ranma wondered for a fleeting moment whether the US Marines were taught first aid as extensively.

"I don't think you'll need it, but I'll ask anyway. Do you want to go to the hospital? Get a full checkout?" Jackson asked.

"How about my ear?" Ranma asked.

"They're not blown out, so it can't be catastrophic," Kurosawa said. He paced around Ranma's sitting form. "You're in no condition to drive but you should get back to Tokyo and get it checked out there if you must. I don't think there will be a difference from now and a few hours later."

This wasn't the first time Ranma dealt with his ears hurting from gunshots or even from explosive ki-blasts. But this was leagues worse than a case of sonic ringing. He tried to poke his finger inside his right ear canal to settle the sensation of a phantom blockage that swelled like an air bladder. It sounded like someone shot a spool of cotton into his ear and made everything sound filtered through a walkie-talkie.

"We made a hell of a ruckus out here," Ranma said. He stood up and brushed himself off. He grabbed his rifle from the ground and slung it over his shoulder. "Think anyone heard it?"

"I'm sure someone heard that boat burping out those fifties," Jackson said. "I called MaxFor, there's a team that's going to police this area and lock it down. Takayama said he'll have everything covered."

"Really?" Ranma's eyes narrowed. "I want to check the place for anything we missed."

Kurosawa shook his head. "It's almost pitch black out here. We need this place sealed off and the clean-up crew will search every nook and cranny and police the dead bodies better and faster than we can."

Ranma nodded. "Jackson, you get all our surveillance equipment?"

"I need to get it back to the JNSA to get the laser-mic feed filtered. I still need to pack everything from the tower. I'm going to send the data digitally so our techs can work on it right away."

"How far away are our guys?"

"I'd say an hour, at least. They're coming from our JNSA satellite-facility in Osaka." Jackson pulled out a candy bar from a vest pocket. "I'll wait for them, and you two head back to Tokyo. I'll load up everything in your car, Major."

Kurosawa looked over at Ranma. "You don't mind me taking you back, do you sir?"

"Not at all," Ranma said. "Why are you calling me sir? You're a Major and at least a decade older than me."

"Hey," Kurosawa chuckled. He slid his hand through his hair. "You're the JNSA Cap'n. I'm a Major in the Corps. My rank doesn't apply to you, but yours applies to me."

Ranma shrugged. "You can just call me, Ranma."

"Sure thing. Don't worry. If Akira chose you himself I have no qualms calling you 'sir'. I heard some interesting things about you, Ranma."

-------------

Kurosawa's choice of transportation was a small and chunky two-door Suzuki SUV. Its electronics complex jungle of an interior was a shocking contrast to its plain and forgettable exterior. All the added gizmos and LCD screens made it look like an aircraft cockpit.

Ranma dozed in and out of sleep as soon as he got in, his body and psyche shell shocked from the unexpected combat against an opponent he had no chance against. He blossomed awake to the sound of Kurosawa conversing on a radio mike with one hand on the steering wheel. He was groggy and unable to sleep any more.

"How far away are we?" Ranma mumbled.

Kurosawa briefly put down his mike. "About 50 clicks southwest of Tokyo. You've been asleep for about an hour and a half."

"Holy shit, sorry about that," Ranma said. He straightened up in his seat. There wasn't much room to twist and turn, the seats were aggressively bolstered Recaros.

Kurosawa finished his conversation on his radio and set the mike on the receiver. "Not a problem," he said. "I just got off the sat-radio with Jackson, HQ, and the Maritime Defense Forces."

"Oh?"

"That PT boat you guys ran into managed to slip out of Japanese waters without a hitch. Jackson said the satellites are still tracking their location visually, and they're headed towards the Korean peninsula. JSDF refuses to pursue them."

"No one came close?" Ranma gripped his seat belt.

Kurosawa whistled. "They're pros. They surveyed and researched their point of entry, docking, and exit strategy. Everything was timed to miss their passing. The Maritime guys are fucking hacks, and I'm sure there isn't really anyone who can interpret all the data to see exactly how they set everything up. I'm interested to see it myself."

"Your field of expertise?" Ranma asked.

"Somewhat."

"You still in the Marine Corps? Are you a dedicated JNSA agent?"

"I'm doing liaison work as an attaché, so I'm technically not really under the JNSA payroll. But I'm with you guys step-by-step for anything and everything you need me for."

"What?" Ranma felt his employer had more smoke and mirrors than he bargained for. "So you're still working for America?"

"Something like that."

"Who recruited you?"

"I've known Commander Takayama for a long time. I wasn't really recruited, I'm just here for support work."

Ranma decided not to press. "So what'd you do as a Marine?"

"I'm a senior Major. I spent a little over twenty years in the Marine Corps. Seven of those as an enlisted."

"Wow, a lifer, huh? How old were you when you started?"

"Since Christ was a cook and Moby Dick was a minnow. I was 19 and dropped out of college after my freshman year. Took me years later to finish my degree, part time."

"Mind sharing your pedigree?" Ranma asked, curious.

"Sure. I enlisted as an infantry grunt and I qualified for Recon first chance I got. Back then I got a little bit of preference for INDOC selection since I was bilingual. But I served my first billet as a recon Marine, and by the time I was a Staff Sergeant I passed selection for Force Recon."

This time Ranma whistled. "Cream of the crop, like Jackson huh?"

"Jackson and I have a lot in common with each other. But he's your age, and a little bit green. But again, on paper he's much more impressive than I was at that age."

Ranma nodded. "So what'd you do after?"

Kurosawa rubbed his chin. "I served with 1st Force Recon for two years. That's your max tour for a company, and then they boot you back to a Recon battalion. It pisses a lot of guys off, and I was no different. I was a Gunny at the time. So I decided I'd move up and become an officer since I was thinking about getting married and raising a family. Did the Officer Candidate thing, blazed my way to 3rd Recon in Okinawa by the time I was a First Lieutenant. Got to be platoon officer in Force Recon for 18 months. Got booted out, worked intel and as a foreign area officer. I was lucky enough to be a Force Recon XO* when I was promoted to Major. Now I'm just an attaché, and my active days in Recon are pretty much finished."

*XO – Executive Officer.

A wave of deja-vu washed over Ranma. It was like when he had trained with Jackson, Sagara, and Hanako. They were three operators from different parts of the world, and they intimidating proficient at what they did. His new colleague next to him was a veteran, older version of that.

He took a look at Kurosawa. He could now see some of his face after the Major had wiped off the camo-paint with some baby wipes. Ranma saw the bulging arc of his trapezius muscles stretching his shirt collar high enough to reach his ears. His cheekbones and jaw line were tight and pronounced because he was fit and lean, but his eyes were set comfortably and his lips relaxed.

"Ever find a chance to get married and raise those kids?"

"Oh, yes." Kurosawa reached across the dashboard and pressed his thumb on a biometric scanner above the glovebox. A heavy vault-like clunk rotated open a compartment with a suppressed 1911, a Leatherman multi-tool, and a wallet. He grabbed the wallet and flipped it open to a photo. "My wife is an elementary school teacher in Camp Zama and my son and daughter are in middle school. They've lived in Japan with me and didn't move much."

"Were you born here?" Ranma's eyes wandered towards the suppressed .45 in the glovebox. It looked similar to his, but was flat black.

Kurosawa shook his head. "No. I'm a second generation Japanese-American. Wife's the same. My kids are pretty much American military brats."

"They know what you do?" Ranma asked. He felt an unreasonable pang of jealousy. He wondered if he would've had kids by now.

"Oh yeah, but they keep their mouths shut. I'm home at least every other day if I'm not deployed. And I always take my vacation time. I gave what I could, and it worked out."

"Hey, glad to be working with you," Ranma said. He stuck out his hand. "Thanks for saving my life again, Major."

Kurosawa shook his hand firmly. "Call me Chris. Or Hideo."

"Thanks, Chris."

"So, Ranma. Mind telling me your background? Your file said a couple of things that I find fascinatingly difficult to believe."

Ranma smiled. He took a breath before he started his tale.

***

April 25th, 2001.

46th floor, JNSA Headquarters – Tokyo, Japan. 4:36 PM.

A separate elevator across the corridor from the one Ranma rode up in chimed and the light above the doors blinked green. There was no call button for the elevator. Instead it was a biometric scanner that Ranma didn't have access to. He remembered Takayama had pointed out everything above the 46th floor was off limits to him, the intelligence wing.

So it irked him to see Takayama and Kurosawa walk out together with Jackson behind them. He knew they were at least honest with what he wasn't allowed to have his eyes and ears on, but it grated him for the first time that perhaps he was an outsider amongst them.

"Come with us to the media room, Ranma," Takayama said, still walking.

Ranma walked alongside Jackson and right behind Kurosawa. Kurosawa looked like an average Joe, with his hair brushed and face cleaned up to compliment his clean dress shirt and dark blue slacks. He looked far more convincing as a stockbroker.

"You get any sleep, Jackson?" Ranma asked.

"Not really." Jackson yawned. "I was driving like a banshee to get here from Nagoya. That kept me awake. I took a catnap while waiting for the techs to disseminate all our surveillance data."

"I slept in the car. I'm good to go with coffee, it was just enough to keep me going in school today," Ranma said. He jiggled his white mug of brew from the coffeepot in the lounge.

The four gathered in a board room with rows of chairs and desks, reminiscent of a classroom. Several screens were lit up with projectors attached to the ceiling.

Jackson went to the front of the room in front of a laptop that was already setup next to a couple of black boxes with blinking lights and tiny knobs and switches. Ranma squinted his eyes. One of the boxes had a green screen that resembled an oscilloscope.

Several other men and women who had been waiting outside filed in and sat behind the four MaxFor agents occupying the front row. Takayama was seated next to Ranma.

"These people are from the intelligence wing and select guests from different bureaus of the JNSA," Takayama whispered in Ranma's ears.

"I thought what we did was in the shadows?" Ranma responded with his hand covered over his mouth.

"Yes, but there's still bureaucracy. These are the people who fund us, the people who make sure those we manipulate stay under control, and they are the same people we work hard to get our jobs done." Takayama pointed to a skinny man in his mid forties with coke bottle glasses and a notepad in his hand. "That man calibrated and set up satellite photo recon of your PT boat. A request can be an operation all its own and he disseminates it back for you guys into something simple to read and understand. He's here to make sure what he worked on is presented correctly and if pressed answer any further questions. Everyone else in the room is here for something supportive."

Ranma nodded. "Gotcha."

The lights in the room dimmed and everyone looked forward. Jackson tapped a few keys on the laptop and the projector screens behind him projected a satellite map of Honshu and the surrounding sea.

"Thank you for waiting," Jackson announced to everyone. "Our investigation has quickly transformed into a multi-agency operation that has become this unit's first major challenge since its conception. As of last night, Captain Saotome and I have found concrete evidence that the recent influx of firearms fueled with a burgeoning cocaine trade is linked together and smuggled in by water."

A man with a jet black suit and a gold lapel on his jacket coughed. "Drug and weapons trade is done most commonly on the water. What made this one different?"

Jackson nodded. "The sheer quantity of goods exchanged and the amount of intel the courier and receivers had in evading virtually every form of security detection was remarkable. A similar operation that we now believe may be linked to ours occurred earlier this week when one of our agents in Hokkaido came across the remnants of another transaction that had already taken place."

Commander Takayama stood up from his seat to face everyone. "Just to let you know, our men tracked these leads down the old fashioned way."

"Thank you, sir," Jackson said. "We caught a lucky break when we scouted for abandoned port locations.

Jackson went on to explaining the connection between the drugs and the firearms and the economy in which they were peddled. After he was finished emphasizing just how bad the recent surge of smuggling was in comparison to the normal traffic of drug trade, most of the guests in the room exited. Only the four MaxFor men, the wiry satellite technician, and another man who had remained quiet stayed. They were all motioned to stand up.

Takayama grabbed Ranma's shoulder and brought him over to the other two men in the room.

"Ranma, this is the electronics intelligence technician up in the Intel wing. His name is Brian Nakagawa," Takayama said.

Ranma shook his hand. "Pleasure to meet you."

"And this is JNSA Director of Counter-Intelligence, Colonel Tanaka," Takayama said. "One of the very few people we report to, Saotome."

"An honor to meet you," Ranma said, bowing. He looked at the colonel, wondering when the last time the man must have gone outdoors was. He was a pale and balding, thin man. But he stood confidently and had a firm jaw line.

"Likewise," Tanaka responded.

"I'm sure you were all waiting for this," Nakagawa said as he made his way to the laptop. He produced a live uplink of the previous static satellite photo that had been on the screen. "Here's your boat, gentlemen. It's been visually tagged and we've followed it the whole time."

Jackson walked over to Ranma. "They're at a port in Busan, off the Korean peninsula. They've made a steady and quick escape since last night."

"Can we nab 'em?" Ranma asked.

"Your call," Takayama said.

Ranma looked at Jackson and Kurosawa. Both were nodding. "I say we go get them."

"Leave that up to me," Takayama said. He looked at Tanaka, who also nodded in approval.

Nakagawa cleared his throat. "Next is the real sensitive bit. I've decoded Sergeant Samamoto's laser-mic feed."

Ranma watched as Nakagawa stood still and looked at everyone but him. His eyes wandered, as if he were awaiting further instructions. "Well, what did it say?"

Takayama opened his mouth to speak but then clamped it shut. He saw Colonel Tanaka walk over and grab his shoulder.

"It's fine. I'll tell him," Tanaka said.

Takayama shrugged his shoulder and took a step back. Tanaka had a flat smile on his face.

Ranma grit his teeth, feeling alienated again.

"I know you're new here, and no doubt by now you must have sensed that you're being kept out of a lot of things that the rest of us are privy to," Tanaka explained. "But understand, coming from your background there are a lot of things that you simply don't need to know immediately because you wouldn't know what to do with it. This agency isn't hiding things from you, think of it more as you being placed on a need to know basis. I believe you were told that before you came aboard."

"I understand," Ranma responded flatly.

"It's unfortunate you got stuck in a mess like this your first job here. This case of yours has bumbled its way up into something far more complex than law enforcement. But I'll tell you what you need to know." Tanaka motioned with his hand. "Nakagawa?"

"I'll give you the brief version. After listening to all the chatter on the feed we discovered a few things and have made some safe assumptions based on what you guys have uncovered so far. The men in the port were Yakuza soldiers, that much the National Police has helped us out with. We've caught snippets of their conversation on the dock that night, and they referred to a woman who was handling everything."

"The ringleader of that PT Boat was a woman," Ranma said. "Are they talking about her?"

"No," Nakagawa responded. "She was mentioned separately amidst the conversations that took place. Someone specifically mentioned a woman that the bosses dealt with and that she arranged for that night's pickup."

"And if that's true, it means that woman is responsible in some way for knowing where and how to make that transaction," Jackson piped in. "Deductively, that means at least some mention of all the security bypasses we discussed earlier must have been channeled through this person."

Tanaka grunted. "And because the evidence suggests the plausibility of this, we have to also look at the possibility that this woman is someone who has access to highly sensitive information within the government. That's why I'm here to discuss with you where and how this is going to be headed."

"This sounds like something I shouldn't have stepped in," Ranma said.

Tanaka looked at him. "I'm not shutting you down or taking the reins. Understand, this isn't a spy we're catching. It's an individual. A woman, it seems, who is in a position to make lots of money. JNSA Intel handles all internal affairs because it's obvious that a leak like this is our priority."

"And you're wrong, Saotome," Takayama said. "Tanaka and I will take care of this end, but out there on the streets is a different story. You're the only one here who's a real investigator. We need to find this leak from both sides."

Ranma nodded. "I got it. Just had to clarify where I stand in all this," he said.

"You continue to do your investigation. That stays the way it is. We're going to do our homework and fill you in on whatever you need. I'm also going to nab that boat crew, and extradite them back here if we can. You'll get your pick at them too," Takayama said. "You also have Chris' complete cooperation and support. He's here to assist you in any way he can."

"That's right," Kurosawa said.

"You three are dismissed," Takayama said. "Get some rest."

"Easier said than done," Ranma said. He sighed as he left the room, along with Jackson and Kurosawa. "We need to ID the deceased from last night and I have to go visit Kiyone."

"You don't need to worry about that today, the forensics at the National Police HQ wanted to do a thorough autopsy," Jackson said.

Kurosawa looked skeptical. "What the fuck for? The bullet holes didn't give it away?"

"Probably a full shakedown. Dental, DNA, blood work, bone, peculiar latents, the works," Ranma said. "We call it interrogating a dead man in this business."

"So what next?" Jackson asked.

Ranma put a finger to his lip. "It's a damn shame those bastards got away with almost all of their armaments last night, but we're lucky that one of the crates was filled with drugs. That's going to cause a rift somewhere in the supply pipeline. We track that, and I'll continue to work on my end to see where it's funneling out undercover."

"Shit's getting complicated," Jackson mumbled.

"Why not raid the Yakuza faction you guys originally stumbled upon?" Kurosawa asked.

"We have to find out how they work first. If we rain on their parade that blatantly they'll change up how they work so quickly we'll be starting back at zero," Ranma replied.

Kurosawa looked skeptical. "Like they haven't already been tipped off from you two working around here?"

Ranma's shoulders slumped. "It's a SNAFU. Gotta work around it."

Jackson was still unsure. "But we can round them all up and at least shake them down. That works, doesn't it?"

"In theory, it would," Ranma replied. "But our situation is a bit different. Either of you study up on syndicates and organized crime?"

"Only popular knowledge, I guess. But go ahead and shoot," Kurosawa said.

"Only what I've been able to observe here," Jackson said.

"Among the yakuza in this country, there's nearly 40,000 members of the Yamaguchi-gumi alone. Although there's a whole lot less who are actually formal members of the top. And that's just one, albeit the biggest, yakuza faction," Ranma said. "And there's more to it than that. 40,000 people know a whole lot more people to work with on top of that, so who knows who works for what. There's just too much to sift through."

"Is this something you've had to work with before?" Kurosawa asked.

Ranma nodded. "Similar. In the LAPD I had to tip toe around guys from the Mexican Mafia and MS-13. Both have tens of thousands of members in each. It's not one big single entity, and they have rifts and rivalries amongst themselves from the inside out. It can apply here too, and I think that's what we need to work on. We've been targeting with potshots until now."

"This whole thing's been bugging me since we started," Ranma said. "Yakuza care about money more than anything else. And to keep making money, your best bet is to do something that won't get you caught. These guys we're trying to catch are different. Someone's doing something big and in a hurry. I smell a turf war or a power struggle."

"Which you've already manufactured on smoke and mirrors," Kurosawa said. "That's some impressive handiwork."

"It can do more harm than good for all we know," Ranma said. "Right now I'm just hoping we managed to rock someone's nest egg and things start cracking."

***

April 25th, 2001.

Nerima Riverbank – Tokyo, Japan – 4:40 PM.

It was a dirty habit, and she'd done so well without touching them for the past six months. But Nabiki flicked the disposable lighter in her hand repeatedly to the Mild Seven in her mouth. It sparked several times before she got a flame.

"I don't know what the hell to tell you!" Nabiki growled into her cell phone. "No one, and I mean no one could've possibly known about that drop off. Even with what you assholes have told me, the ship got away without a hitch, you didn't have a whole army stopping you."

Nabiki stomped her heels as she walked alongside the familiar chain link fence on the Nerima riverbank. She slowed down and looked around to make sure no one could listen in on her.

"Listen to me. I'm telling you right now, as far as I know it's not the cops who are pulling this off. I've got a friend who's been monitoring all the police activity in the National Police, and they haven't done a thing other than that fluke that happened up North. Everything is being speculated as rival Yakuza activity. Now I don't anything about that. That's on you guys."

She continued walking and resumed a fast pace, taking puffs from her cigarette as she listened in on her phone.

"Listen, all I can tell you guys is keep quiet and be patient. These things just need to be sorted out with time as we figure out each step. You have more weapons in your hands than some JSDF armories in the country. I delivered that much, and all you have to do is pick up the scraps."

As she neared the end of her path Nabiki came across a familiar turn and flicked the cigarette away into the riverbank.

"Don't hassle me on what I can't do or know. I appreciate the payoff, and we'll keep in touch." Nabiki ended her call.

For a moment, she wanted to pause and claw away at her chest. The pent up stress from work and her dealings felt like a vice, and she didn't like her well laid plans unraveling. Nabiki Tendo's made plans that were airtight.

She followed a group of teenagers to the front of her family home, and the Tendo Dojo. They were Akane and Ryoga's students for the afternoon Kenpo class.

Nabiki navigated her way to the veranda to the residential entrance while the students made their way to the other side of the compound to enter the training hall. She rang the doorbell just as someone walked past the genkan.

Akane opened the door in her yellow gi. "Oneechan! What a surprise! Come on in."

"Wanted to have a meal cooked by my baby sister," Nabiki said. She reached over and gave her a hug.

"Oh is that right?" Akane embraced her and sniffed her hair. "You smell like smoke?"

Nabiki winced. "Oh, that's just from having lunch with some of my coworkers. All chain smokers. You know how men are."

"Well come on in," Akane said. "We're teaching till 6:30, and I'll have dinner ready around 7:30, that fine?"

"Yeah, sure." Nabiki opened the sliding door to the tea room. "Hey Akane, I'm going to rest for a bit. I'll be over in the living room."

"Sure, sure." Akane walked towards the dojo. "Dad's in their teaching the youth group, I'll tell him you're here."

"Thanks." Nabiki slid under the table and laid her head on a cushion. She closed her eyes and set her mind adrift.

Heavy footsteps from the stairs made their way down and paused at the bottom.

"Damnit, where did I leave that thing? How the heck am I going to find my way?"

Nabiki's eyes slowly opened and she smiled at the voice. She looked up on the table and saw a GPS handset, next to an empty package that had held batteries. She whistled in the direction of the stairwell. "Hey, lost boy. Over here!"

After a few moments, Ryoga peeked his head into the room. "Nabiki?"

She picked up his treasured navigator. "You were looking for this, I presume?"

Ryoga breathed a sigh of relief and sat down next to her. "I forgot I left it here, the batteries died earlier and I changed them."

"Yeah, and the dojo would've lost its head instructor for the next few weeks."

"When did you get here?" Ryoga clipped his GPS set to his waist and loosened his shoulders.

"Just now. Wanted to have dinner with my family."

"Ah. And did you pick up smoking again since the last time we met?" Ryoga asked.

Nabiki's expression didn't change. "No, it's from coworkers smoking around me."

Ryoga rolled his eyes. "Don't lie to me. Akane may fall for that, but I know fresh smoke when I smell it. A couple of my students tried to pull the same thing."

"Alright, you got me. Now let's drop it," Nabiki curtly replied.

"Must be something pretty stressful? I can't imagine it's anything you can't handle."

"Yeah, something like that," Nabiki said. She turned on the TV with the remote that was on the table. It was a big and expensive plasma screen that she had bought as a Christmas gift this past winter. It set her back a hefty 2 million yen. "Once in a while I'm in a position where I have to take huge risks that can either make or break me. And they take their toll."

Ryoga nodded his head. "Want to hear something interesting? Ranma dropped in a few days ago. He was snooping around in the dojo, and came to visit me and Akane."

Nabiki's ears perked. "Snooping around? Snooping around for what?"

"I meant she was just poking around, seeing what our students were up to." He got up and slid the door open to get out. "Want some tea and crackers by the way? I can go get you some."

"No, no, sit down." Nabiki waved her hands and motioned him to his seat. "Tell me more about what happened."

"Well, it was awkward. He and I sparred a little. We later went out to dinner at the Nekohanten of all places. Ranma apologized to us and Shampoo and her grandmother." Ryoga shrugged. "It was like he was trying to start on a clean slate."

"So you're all on good terms with him, then?" Nabiki asked.

Ryoga looked skeptical. "I guess. Doesn't mean I like him, still. But he's not out looking for trouble."

The gears inside Nabiki's head were starting to turn. Maybe she could get on good terms with him as well. "In that case why don't you invite him over this Friday? We can have Kasumi and Tofu come by too."

"What?" Ryoga looked hesitant. "You're the one who's telling us to be careful around him. What's with the change of heart?"

"We all have to start somewhere," Nabiki said. She bit the inside of her cheek. Ranma worked for the NSA, something she was completely off limits to.

Ryoga huffed and got up from his seat again. "You tell Akane and set it up. I'm gonna go teach my class."

"Don't get lost now," Nabiki teased. She slipped back under the table and laid her head down. Her eyes dimmed, wondering if there was a glimmer of hope.

***

April 25th, 2001.

McDonalds, Shibuya Branch. - Tokyo, Japan. 7:32 PM.

"I used to work at one of these. Did I ever tell you that?"

Ranma turned to look wearily at Kiyone. He received his change from the counter girl and took his tray of food and sipped his fresh hot coffee. "No, you didn't. To tell you the truth, I hate this place."

Kiyone ordered a McFlurry and sat down with Ranma at one of the tables. "Who hates McDonalds? You're from America, you must've had tons of these around everyday."

Ranma scoffed, chomping into his Big Mac. "Yeah, exactly," he mumbled in between chews. "I felt like having a burger with my coffee. I already miss the burger stands out in LA over this shit."

"Something you indulge in after a rough night," Kiyone said with a wink.

"Yeah, something like that." He rubbed his eyes and yawned.

"Mihoshi and I are the same way. She likes Chinese takeout. I'm more of a potato chips and beer kind of person."

"Is that right?" Ranma smiled. "I had a girlfriend who ate an entire carton of ice cream by herself nearly every day. Her escape at the end of the day, she said. On those really bad days, I'd see her gorging through that and then a massive pile of junk food."

Kiyone winced. "That's kind of like Mihoshi, except not as gross I don't think."

Ranma set his burger down. "Yeah, I guess you could say that was so." He looked out the window and paused. "Holy shit."

Kiyone froze as well. "What, did you see someone from Furinkan?"

"No, no. Stay right here, I'll be right back," he said.

Confused, Kiyone looked out the window again. All she saw were people walking by in the crowded Shibuya streets. She saw Ranma get up and run out the door.

Ranma sidestepped his way out into the sidewalk and squirmed to avoid the crowds of people walking in all directions. He caught up to the back of a delicate indigo haired woman in a white sundress. He tapped her on the shoulder.

She shuddered at the touch and slowly turned around. "Yes?"

"I thought it was you!" Ranma ran a hand through his hair. "Akari Unryuu? Do you remember me?"

"What? Who-" She paused and looked at his face and then his pigtail. Her hand went up to cover her mouth. "Saotome? Ranma?"

"You do remember! It must be about seven years since I last saw you."

Akari's hands trembled as she chuckled. "Yes...yes it has been. I heard you went away to America and never came back."

Ranma's face fell, but he managed to keep a smile. "Long story about that. But let's say my life fell apart and I'm sort of putting it back together. Moved back to Japan a month ago."

"Is that so?" Akari managed a half hearted smile herself. "I'm sorry, this is almost surreal. Last time we talked to each other we were practically kids."

Ranma felt inexplicably shy at the moment. "You're right. Hey, how about you come in to McDonalds here? Maybe catch up on things?"

Akari's head bowed slightly. "Um... I was on my way to work and you just caught me-"

Starting work this late, Ranma wondered. "Well, where do you work and when do you get off?"

"I-" Akari's voice choked up. She took a step back. "I'm sorry, I-"

"Hey, hey, what's wrong?" He grabbed her shoulders gently. "You look worried."

"I'm fine, I'm sorry," Akari said, recomposing herself. "I'm real sorry, Ranma. Maybe we'll bump into each other later."

Ranma's hands slipped as she took off running in the direction she was walking earlier. He saw her slip around a corner and walked over to see where she was going. He leapt up and grabbed a ledge of an awning on the sidewalk to get a better view.

Kiyone was right below him, running out after him after she observed the commotion from inside. "What is it? What happened?"

Ranma kept silent as he saw Akari navigating through the packed crowds of pedestrians and into a neon lit entryway. It looked like a cabaret club.

Ranma dropped down and dusted his hands. "Nothing. She was an old friend, and she got startled. Ran off."

"Old friend?" A side of Kiyone's brow arched tenaciously. "The way she took off you could swear that she was an ex."

A side of Ranma's cheek twitched, and he lightly bit his tongue. "No, it's nothing like that. Let's go back inside."

Kiyone sat herself down inside the restaurant and prodded her ice cream snack with a spoon. "So, who was she?"

"She's actually the ex-girlfriend of the guy who married my ex-fiancee," Ranma replied, sighing.

Kiyone's face softened and she tried to hide her embarrassment with a delicate spoonful of McFlurry. "Oh."

"Yeah."

"That's kind of awkward, isn't it?" she asked.

"Not really. We were good friends when we were teenagers. It's awkward how she just took off like that," he said. "I haven't seen her in almost seven years and that was her reaction."

"Maybe you have that effect on women," Kiyone quipped.

The expression on Ranma's face was still pensive from Akari's actions. "Yeah, maybe."

"Now, don't be like that," Kiyone said. She cursed herself mentally for putting her foot in her mouth earlier.

"No, it's just I've always wondered what happened to her years ago. She's like the other end of the equation that got snubbed out like me."

"If you guys were good friends when you were younger, why'd she run off like that though?" Kiyone asked. "She looked upset."

"I don't have the slightest idea. Like I said, it's been years. Who knows what's going through her head," Ranma said. He grit his teeth. His gut told him he had to find out.

Ranma grabbed his burger and then set it down again. He drank the rest of his coffee in one swig. "I'm not in the mood for this anymore." He got up from his seat. "Want to go out for a drink? Maybe some sushi?"

Kiyone blinked. She looked down at the dessert she had been eating and back at Ranma. "Sushi? That came out of nowhere?"

"What's wrong, it's not like you ate dinner yet?"

"Well," Kiyone said, thinking. She ate rice ball after her afternoon pretending to be a teacher ended. "No."

"Come on, my treat. There's got to be a nice place around here close by."

Kiyone grabbed her purse and got up from her seat. "Why not."

***

April 25th, 2001.

Tofu Clinic – Nerima, Tokyo. 7:45 PM.

"Thank you, Akane. We'll try to be there."

Kasumi Tendo slowly set down the telephone and gently let out a breath.

"Try to be where?"

She turned around to her husband's voice. She refrained from biting her lip. "Oh, that was Akane-chan. She said she'd like us over this week but I told her you may be busy and-"

Tofu pushed back his spectacles and laughed. "Nonsense! I'll make time to visit, so don't you worry about that. When did they want us to come by?"

"Friday evening," Kasumi said softly.

"Well that's great," he said. His hands were hanging around a towel that was draping off his neck. He walked over to give his wife a kiss on the cheek.

Kasumi stood absolutely still. "Dinner will be ready as soon as you're done with your bath."

"Fantastic." Tofu pointed to the stairs that led to his clinic downstairs, separated from the residence on the second floor. "Could you clean up the waiting area? I was in a hurry to close up earlier with a last minute patient. Oh, and did you get my lab suit cleaned and dry clean mother's old dresses?"

A necklace with a large silver cross hung at Kasumi's neck, and she held on to it. "Yes, dear. I had it all done." It had taken up most of her day. "I'll clean up the clinic too."

"Thanks, you're the best."

Kasumi smiled for her husband and walked back to the kitchen when Tofu stepped into the bathroom. Her smile melted away as she got to the stove, her miso soup simmering away. She had a block of tofu waiting to be chopped on the cutting board, and then she had to prepare some other side dishes that she had learned to expect her husband to request.

"Kasumi-san, can you come wash my back?" Tofu yelled from inside the bathroom.

And cook and tend to the kitchen at the same time? "I'm sorry, dear. I can't leave the stove otherwise this will burn," Kasumi lied. She started chopping monotonously away at the tofu and the scallions.

A jingle from behind startled Kasumi. It was her cell phone on the coffee table. "Ara? What's this?" she said, wiping her hands on her apron.

She flipped her phone open. It was an SMS message from Akane. "Ranma is going to be there too this Friday. Do you remember his favorite dishes?" Kasumi read aloud. Ranma was going to be there?

Kasumi's visage eased up. A smile crept on her face. As a matter of fact, she did remember.

***

April 25th, 2001.

Midori-Zushi – Shibuya, Tokyo. 9:57 PM.

"Still not full? You eat as much as I do."

Kiyone took a piece of sashimi into her mouth from Ranma's chopsticks. He gently held her chin as she bit. She tried to chew without blushing, but the "Demon Slayer" onikoroshi and beer had already turned her cheeks red.

"Hey, don't tease me like that. I mean we've only been here what-" Kiyone paused mid-sentence to look down at her watch. "Almost two hours?"

"Two hours?" Ranma said. Both his beer glass and sake cup had been refilled repeatedly throughout the night.

"Yeah, can you believe that? Where did the time go?" Kiyone cleansed her palate with another sip of onikoroshi, chilled ice cold.

"Talking does that," Ranma replied. He took a long, generous sip of his own sake. He eyed the near empty bottle of premium onikoroshi sake that he had ordered midway through dinner, a 20k yen bottle dusted. The room was already glowing with energy through his inebriated eyes.

The itamae* politely leaned over from behind the sushi bar. "Excuse me, sir. We're going to be closing up, are there any last orders you would like?"

*Sushi chef.

Ranma and Kiyone both looked at each other and shook their heads.

"I think that'll be fine," Kiyone said.

"We're good," Ranma replied.

Kiyone poured the rest of her bottle of beer into her glass and did the same with Ranma's own bottle into his glass. She lost track of how many beers they had ordered, and she barely remembered that Ranma was greedier with the sake. "Here, bottoms up hot-shot!"

"Kanpai!" Ranma sloppily clanked his glass with hers and inhaled his beer. It tingled all the way down his throat. "We still need to finish this," he said, grabbing the bottle of onikoroshi. He poured an equal amount into both their cups and then trickled a little more into his.

"I saw that, you cheater," Kiyone slurred. She grabbed one last piece of sashimi from their wooden serving block and dipped it in soy sauce. She lifted it up to Ranma's mouth. "Say, 'Ah' for me."

Ranma opened his mouth and closed it over the chopsticks. She slowly pulled it out placed them in her own mouth.

The bill for the meal was discreetly placed next to Ranma's elbow and he picked it up as he chewed. It came out to a whopping sixty thousand yen, mostly alcohol.

"How much was it?" Kiyone said, offering to pull out her wallet.

"Don't even worry about it," Ranma replied. He placed his credit card and gave it to a waitress who was walking by. He picked up his sake cup. "Worry about this instead."

"Well." Kiyone dabbed the corners of her mouth with a napkin and picked up her cup. "Only thing we have to worry about is you keeling over and making a move on me again, like last time?"

Ranma's head rolled over to the side as he laughed. "Me, attack you? Please." He clicked her glass. "Cheers."

Kiyone tried to cover her laugh with a hand over her mouth. She sipped the rest of her sake away, savoring the intricate and velvety sweet taste of the rice.

A waitress returned with the check and Ranma pocketed his card. "Let's get going, shall we?" He turned to the itamae who had served them a great dinner. "Thanks for the meal."

In a near disastrous juggle of balance Kiyone staggered as she got up. Ranma seamlessly grabbed her by the waist and had her standing straight. Kiyone giggled, embarrassed by the slip up and also thanked the people who had served them as she tried her best to walk out the door as straight as she could with Ranma alongside her.

Both of them made it out into the busy Shibuya night and felt their legs softly wobble as the cool air splashed their hot faces.

"So, where to?" Kiyone asked, her head resting against Ranma's shoulder.

"That's a good question," he replied, leaning on her as well. His arms were still around her waist.

"Let's just start walking," she said. She held his hand with fingers interlaced and dragged him along.

Ranma followed along, his eyes finding the neon lights flooding the Shibuya skyline overwhelming. "Not so fast, I think I'm having an adventure just trying to stand up straight."

Kiyone's teal hair shimmered in the bright lights, and she stumbled as she stopped to turn and face him. "What's wrong, too much to drink?"

"I know you can't be any better," Ranma said, his eyes leery.

"Yeah," she admitted. She resumed walking at leisure. "You're right."

They walked past a cabaret club that caught Ranma's eye. He craned his neck; it was the same one that Akari had run into earlier. Kiyone jerked him back.

"Hey now," she said with a tsk. "What do you think you're looking at mister?"

"Ah, sorry," he quickly replied. "The shiny sign distracted me."

Kiyone poked him in the arm with her free hand. "You got other women in your mind?"

"Nooo..." He shook his head. "Nothing like that."

"It's kind of funny though," Kiyone said. She had a finger on her chin and she gave him a sly, suspicious smile with a tilt of her head. "You're popular with women, it seems? There was that girl you knew from outside McDonalds..."

"My ex's husband's ex," Ranma said, chuckling. "Which doesn't really count."

"And then there's your pretty friend Ukyou, who I met. She seemed like a real charmer, ne?"

Ranma felt a tingle reverberate up his spine. "A childhood friend. And my best friend at that. So what?"

They both walked aimlessly through the traffic of pedestrians, strolling long amidst the busy sidewalk.

"So what?" Kiyone shrugged. "I can see it in her eyes. I'm a woman too. She wants you, or wanted you."

Ranma continued walking. He felt Kiyone's grip on his hand subtly loosen up, but her thumb was rubbing circles on the back of his palm.

"Am I right?" Kiyone asked again. She had a small, but confident smile on her face.

"Yeah, you're right," Ranma said. He saw Kiyone nod her head softly. He let out a sigh he didn't realize he'd been holding. "She thought we were going to get married when we were kids."

"Oh, that's so cute!" she beamed. "So that's how it was, wow. And she wouldn't have been half bad, either."

Ranma lifted both his arms up in exasperation. "Oh please, don't start. I wasn't hers to begin with."

"Well, can this be yours?"

Ranma got dragged into a darkened alley and nearly fell as Kiyone pulled him away from the street. When he regained his balance he felt a warm tongue in his mouth and the breath of sweet beer and wine.

Both stepped over to lean against the wall as their lips stayed locked, Kiyone wrapped her arms around Ranma's neck and she snaked her leg up his, leaning against him as he rested his back on the wall.

Kiyone moaned as she continued to make out with him, pausing for moments to plant kisses on his neck and lick a side of his face. Ranma enjoyed her breath on his more than anything, intoxicated by the fumes of alcohol that he could smell off her lips.

He finally pulled his head back to take a look at her, his eyes adjust to the dark alley. Her eyes looked straight into his, wide and inviting. She was breathing hard right on his chest. He tilted back down and dove his tongue back into her mouth, tasting her once more. He pulled her closer and then bowed down to kiss and lick behind her ears and her neck.

"This was so much better the second time around," Kiyone softly mumbled, in between gasps.

"Good sake and good whiskey, right?" he said, laughing.

She cut him off by kissing him again. "It's not just that."

They continued on for another minute, until Kiyone's arms pulled Ranma's head closer to hers. She whispered into his left ear.

He was drunk as a skunk, but remembered he couldn't hear a damn thing out of that ear. "I'm sorry, I can't hear out of that ear very well. I blew it out."

Kiyone leaned back and looked at him with a puzzled face. She leaned over to his other ear this time. "I want to go back to a room, and I want you to fuck me. Right now."

Ranma's chest tightened. He felt a swirl of nervous excitement. "You want to what?"

"I want to have sex." She leaned back again and showed her face, looking bemused. "We're both adults. And I like you."

"And you're not too drunk and going to regret this?" he asked warily.

Kiyone got close enough to Ranma's face to brush his nose and his lips with her own. Their eyes were locked. "Yes. I'm saying I want you to fuck my brains out right now and do it well."

"Well, damn."

---------------

Ranma nearly tripped again for the umpteenth time tonight, except this time it was on his own pants as he tried to get them off while shuffling his feet from the doorway.

Kiyone was already halfway across the room, twirling as she made her way across the bed. She tossed the hotel key aimlessly on the floor as she landed on the bed. She was also busy trying to take off her clothes.

With his brain bombarded by the rush of blood he had mindlessly carried Kiyone with him into a love hotel conveniently located right across the street for an overnight stay. The room wasn't themed and nothing fancy, just a straightforward place for rest or triple-X.

Ranma pounced on top of the bed, landing right on top of her to give her another kiss as he slowly lay on top of her. He had his shirt and boxers on and Kiyone had already shed her pants and was unbuttoning her blouse.

He ran a hand through her teal hair and fingered her bandanna. "You going to keep this on?"

"I rarely take it off," she purred. "Want me to take it off for you?"

Her breathing was labored and her eyes were barely open. Ranma reached down into her opened blouse and caressed her breasts through her bra. She moaned softly and he kissed her on the forehead and on her collarbone.

"So was it your plan to seduce me tonight?" Ranma asked, continuing to plant kisses across her neck.

"Mmmmm." Kiyone's eyes were completely closed and her mouth barely moved.

"What was that?" Ranma said, continuing on with his foreplay.

He slowly stopped, and took a look at Kiyone's face. He took his hands off her body. "Kiyone?"

She elicited a quiet moan and kept her eyes shut, her head lolled to the side. Her chest softly heaved as she breathed.

"Hey," Ranma said. He tapped the side of her face a few times. "Don't tell me you fell asleep."

It became apparent that her lack of interaction was a sign of her deep slumber. Ranma deflated into the bed as he rolled back, in disappointment. He nearly fell off the bed.

"You've gotta be kidding me." He got up and looked at her. He'd already unhooked her bra and had her panties to her knees. "You became your own cock blocker," he mumbled to himself.

He didn't feel right touching her body to get her clothes back on, so he pulled a blanket over her instead. She snored lightly as she was tucked in the covers.

Ranma sat down on a seat near the window. He pulled the curtain and saw a great view of the streets below him, still bustling with people.

"Hey, the view's real nice from here," he said to Kiyone's motionless body. "You're missing out."

He scratched his head and went to a mini fridge in the room and pulled out a bottle of water to drink. He was drunk and exhausted but after what had just happened he wasn't quite sleepy just yet.

It suddenly occurred to him that he now had a chance to look something up. He decided to hop in the shower to freshen up.

------------------

"Welcome, honey! You here by yourself?"

Ranma was thankful for the dark interior of the cabaret club. He thought his head was about to spin off his shoulders when he walked back out into the neon lit extravaganza of Shibuya.

"Yeah, I'm by myself," Ranma replied. He took a look around. There were sofa seats in sections, and a bar. The place wasn't packed, but it was lively. "Can I sit at that bar?"

The hostess directed him to a seat with her arms around his. "Sure, whatever you like."

He thanked her and took a seat on a bar stool. The bartender was a young guy, a bit older than Ranma and of a portly build. One of his pinkies were missing.

The bartender came up to him. "What can I get for you?"

Ranma took a look at the shelves and saw nothing but liquor. "What's the lightest beer you have?"

"American. Coors fine with you?"*

*Personal Rant: I keep Coors in my fridge because I'm a cheapskate. But American beer SUUUCKS.

"Perfect," Ranma said. He gulped, he wanted something easy to drink without looking out of place. He didn't think he could handle any more liquor or spirits.

A couple of girls sat on each side of him and they went right to work.

The girl to his right immediately latched on. "How are you doing tonight, handsome?"

"The other one grabbed from the opposite side. "Sometime we say that to make the customer feel good, but tonight we really do get a handsome guy?"

Ranma felt an odd guilty pang for being here when he was with Kiyone not less than half an hour ago, but he wasn't here for pleasure. "I'm here to have a good time, with the right girl."

"Well we can be the right girls for you or any kind of girl you want. I'm Akemi," the one on the right said.

"And I'm Sora," the one on the left said.

Ranma looked amused. "Well I was wondering if you girls can help me out. Is there a girl with dark blue hair here, kind of quiet?"

"Why, she your girlfriend?" Akemi asked.

"No, it's just that she caught my eye earlier and I saw her walking in her," Ranma replied.

"Oh, I get it," Sora said. "He's talking about little Ms. Piggy."

Ranma's eyes lit up. "Oh?"

"Yeah, that's her nickname," Akemi said. "You're talking about Akane-chan, right?"

Ranma shifted and nearly fell off his seat. Akane? Was that the nickname she chose?

"The girl has this things for pigs, it's like her weird fetish," Sora said.

Ranma knew it had to be her. "Do you guys have a private room? Can you get her?"

"Oh sure," Akemi said. She got up from her seat and walked towards the middle of the room. "I'll get her for you. Sora here will take you guys to a room."

"Thanks!" Ranma wondered if cabaret girls were usually this friendly. But then again, this was the first time he'd been to one.

Sora led him to a private room that looked a lot like a cushy karaoke room. "No problem, sugar. Just remember us when you leave a tip, yeah?" She winked.

Ranma made himself comfortable on the couch and took a look around. A disco ball hung from the ceiling and the TV for the karaoke flickered in the back. There was a border of tiled mirrors on the wall right above each of the sofas, making the room glimmer and look larger than it seemed.

The bartender from before came in with a bucket of ice and some cups. Behind him was a slender girl with her hair covering her eyes, dressed in a very short satin ivory dress and fuzzy pink pump heels. She gently sat down on the other side from Ranma, and had her head lowered.

The bartender had a bottle in his hand. "Is Suntory Whiskey alright for you, sir?"

Ranma cringed. "Eh? No, I didn't order that."

"Private rooms all come with bottle service included sir. You're paying for it either way."

"Oh, shit." Ranma could almost feel the sushi coming up. "How about sake then? A comparable bottle of cold sake?"

"We can do that," the bartender replied. He left the room and closed the door behind him.

The private room blocked out any music and conversation from the main lounge, leaving a muffled silence between Ranma and his guest.

She looked up and cleared her bangs with her hands. "How are you tonight, sir? My name is Akane Hoshino."

Ranma shivered. There it was again, with the name.

She got up to lean over the table towards him and reach for his hand. "What's your name-"

He grabbed her hand first. "It's Ranma, Akari."

She froze in place and her eyes looked like a deer's caught in headlights. She recoiled back and nearly fell.

"Wait, wait!" Ranma got up to block the door. "I just want to talk to you. Don't be afraid."

She struggled for a few more minutes and then finally flailed her arms in defeat. She sank back into her seat and had her head low again. Ranma sat at his place and looked at her somberly. When she lifted her head, he could see her eyes brimming with tears. It was hard to believe this was the same cute Akari with her prized pig Katsunishiki barreling down the streets with glee about how happy she was to be with Ryoga. The girl in front of him was an obscenity with her getup. But she didn't look afraid.

The bartender came back with a bottle and placed it on the table. "A bottle of onikoroshi, special service at no extra charge. Enjoy." He left as quick as he entered.

Akari brushed her bangs aside, and she tried to wipe her eyes. "Mind if I have a drink?"

Ranma looked at her again, and kept himself from wincing. "Go right ahead."

It wasn't fear that was in her eyes. It was shame.

Akari poured herself a large glass and took nearly half it down in one gulp. "Where do I start?"

------------------

"At first I couldn't drink well so I threw up easily in the bathroom when no one was looking. But my tolerance built up. In this place everyone's tolerance goes up. Soon I didn't even have to hide it anymore by crying at home. I could just drown it out every night drinking with the men who came in and wanted my company.

"I mean, look at me." Akari grabbed the half emptied bottle from the table, and smacked it back down. "I can take this much easily without passing out."

"That's what we all say to ourselves one day, Akari," Ranma told her. He was the one having trouble looking into her eyes this time, because he was ashamed of showing her pity. But after hearing how her life turned out, he couldn't help but feel pity.

Ranma nodded, and refilled his cup and Akari's too. He absorbed her tale in between sips of sake, hearing out how her life had plunged to where they were sitting currently. He found it hard to believe, because Akari had been a person who had stayed unchanged in his mind for all these years and she was a reflection of what was once good and peaceful in Nerima. What she had told him was sobering.

"Grandfather had died peacefully thinking I was going to be married to the right man and my future had been set," she said. "I had no other family and my grandpa raised me by himself. I was an orphan, and it was only me and Katsunishiki left."

And she had made a decent living for herself, mostly on her own. Akari ran a pig ranch in Kanagawa and enjoyed good times whenever Ryoga managed to get himself lost and find her every few weeks or so.

"We had a good thing going," she said. "We decided to get married. It was a decision by both of us, and I thought we had something special. I couldn't afford a nice wedding, so I went to Nabiki since she had helped me get a loan for my ranch."

With wedding plans set and a future promised, Akari sorted things out and waited. And with Ryoga in the picture, Akari knew very well that it might have to wait even longer than that.

"Oh, he gets lost so easily. You remember, don't you Ranma-kun?" she asked him. "But even the patient girl slowly becomes impatient. When I hadn't seen him for nearly three months, I went to go find him."

She found him staying at the Tendos, not a surprise as he was a regular and frequent guest there. The Tendo family had always treated her with welcome and open hearts.

"I was shocked when I found out that Ryoga had protected Akane from a bunch of thugs when she was all alone, and that she was still shaken up about it," Akari said. "I was genuinely worried for Akane, and I thought Ryoga was being a good friend by being at her side when she was still traumatized."

Akari's face had darkened, at this part of her tale. "What a dumb country bitch I am to have believed that, right?" she had asked.

And so the excuses had started to delay the wedding, Akari explained. It wasn't brought up around the Tendos as Akari didn't even know when a date would be set and thought it prudent to let people know. But the excuses dragged further and further, and it was apparent soon to even her naïve heart that something was out of place.

"Things turned ugly real quick," Akari said. "I can imagine it was a hell of a shock for you too, right?"

Ranma's response was that of stone.

"When I found out about everything I was devastated. I was crushed and hurt and everything else that goes along with this sort of thing," she said. "I didn't know how to handle it. I didn't have anyone next to me to help. I was all alone."

The despair had caused Akari to be catatonic, unable to function in her daily life. The welfare of her ranch suffered and went under faster than she dreamt it could have gone, and on top of that she had a loan for a wedding that was never going to happen.

"I paid back most of the wedding loan, but I was stuck with a huge default on the ranch," Akari said bitterly. "I contacted Nabiki on my own, begged her and pleaded with her for help. I had gotten a huge loan to run my own business without any collateral or built credit, and Nabiki was the connection. It wasn't like I was the only one she did this for, either. But she wasn't the bank, and wasn't the lender. She said she couldn't do a thing for me."

Akari broke into tears soon after this, as she had plunged into how she had resorted to selling off everything she had, gave up her pigs, was torn away from Katsunishiki through screaming tears, and took on a job that loan sharks could keep tabs on her with.

And back to the present, Akari spewed the transformation of her ugly and cataclysmic fall of her once happy self to the struggling cabaret girl that sat in front of Ranma.

"I should've known better, even then. Nabiki could have done something. I know she could have. But she didn't," Akari spat. "I always wondered if it was a ploy to keep me away from Ryoga and Akane, to keep me from interfering with their happy lives."

"......" Ranma stared at her for a moment. He was lost in confusion by his own conflicted past. Akari's life hadn't been a picnic either, and they both shared a similar suffering fate.

"I don't care about him anymore, or her." Akari chuckled as a couple of tears rolled down her face. "I don't care about how I turned out either. I just want to work things back to what I had on my own, and start over."

Akari stood up, and slowly made her way next to Ranma. She shed her stripper heels and sat next to him. Her glossy, brown eyes looked at his. "Can I sit by you, and hold you for a while? Please?"

Ranma shook his head and wrapped his arm around her. "Not at all, Akari." He gently stroked her hair and felt her sob softly on his lap. "Not at all."

---------------

"I got the manager to have you pay for the drinks and part of the room only," Akari said. She sat with her legs close together, trying to hide as much as possible. She didn't wear her heels in front of Ranma again.

"Thanks, I was actually afraid how much money this place was going to suck out of me," Ranma said in relief. The standard going rate was at least 50k for a room, half of which went to the girl as a designated tip. Although another 25k yen was no small change either. He'd spent close to a thousand dollars for the night on expenses.

"I'm glad I had someone to talk to other than the girls here," Akari said, her voice filled with some sparkle. "I felt like no one from back home gave two licks about what happened to me until you showed up tonight."

Ranma nodded. Despite the sleazy atmosphere Akari had grown to confide in the other women who worked here, all of whom had problems of their own to share and support. It was ironic that Akari's workplace was also the same place that kept her from losing it again.

When pressed about her stage name, Ranma was surprised at Akari's reaction. She was far less vengeful than what most normal people could tolerate in the given situation.

"I didn't mean to choose Akane-san's name on purpose, but it was the first thing that popped into my head when I had to choose. Maybe it was subconscious." Akari had laughed. "I hate her, you know? I thought we were friends. I thought we were all friends. And look what she did to you too. But I'm not going to confront them or go back there."

"How-" Ranma stopped, realizing how angry he was for her. And himself. "How do you let it go?"

"I work at a place like this, but I think I'm more of an honest person than those trash," she said confidently. "Manipulative, evil, trash."

"I don't think it's a Tendo thing," Ranma said, remembering that Nabiki had been the most interesting topic Akari had spilled about earlier in the night. She was always business savvy, and this didn't surprise her. But she was making business partnerships and loans to people all around Nerima? Including Ucchan?

Akari had babbled that was how Ukyou expanded her restaurant and made enough to open her second restaurant, yet Nabiki was unable to offer her a forbearance on her pigs.

It was a lot of information and a lot of dug up skeletons to absorb, and Ranma felt the weight of his exhaustion catch up to him.

"I'm going to take off now, Akari." Ranma stood up to give her a hug goodbye.

"Can we keep in touch?" she asked, a hint of shyness softening her voice. She snaked her hands into his pants pocket and grabbed his cell phone.

"Wha-" He froze at the very inappropriate close contact.

Akari froze and bowed apologetically. "I'm sorry! I'm so used to doing that, I just did it automatically."

Ranma didn't want to push her, she was already squirming in humiliation. "I understand," he said, chuckling. It made a funny sort of sense that she would do something like that, he thought.

Akari finished inputting her personal phone number and called herself, then handed it back to Ranma. "Do you live in Tokyo, now?"

"Actually I settled down in Okayama, but I'm in Tokyo temporarily." He looked at his phone, and saw a heart along with a (^(oo)^) next to Akari's name in the contact list. "Still love pigs just as ever, I see."

When he looked up and saw Akari standing in front of him with her hands in front of her and a soft smile on her face, he completely forgot about the slinky dress she was wearing. She looked like cute and sweet Akari Unryuu, champion sumo pig handler.

"You take care, Ranma. It was good seeing you," Akari said.

Ranma nodded. He walked out, drunker than when he had came in and hot with shame. When he got outside he made a straight bee line back to his hotel room, clutching his face with his hands. The sight of Akari and her plight left him with a familiar heartbroken pang of despair, one he thought he had gotten over years wiped his eyes away.

-----------------

Ranma's first instinct was to vomit when he woke up, and he stifled it at the last moment as he felt the upchuck surging in his esophagus. He reached for his phone in his pocket to check the time. 5:06 AM.

He got up from the sofa and looked around. The lights to the bathroom were on. He looked around in the unfamiliar room and saw the wrinkled sheets on the bed. There was a pair of white panties strewn on the floor between the bed and the door to the toilet. Loud heaves came from inside.

"Kiyone must be paying the piper," Ranma groaned. He sat up and felt miraculously well rested despite the nausea of the lingering alcohol in his belly. He walked towards the mini fridge to grab some water.

"Ughh..." Kiyone's throat rattled as she walked out. She still had the taste of stomach acid on the roof of her mouth.

"Yeah, I'm not feeling too good either," Ranma said to her.

Kiyone looked up at him with bloodshot eyes. He was staring at her. And then she looked down and remembered.

"Eeeek!" She pulled her blouse down and scrambled for her panties.

"Sorry," Ranma said. So she's teal down there too, he thought.

"Goddamnit!" Kiyone was more frustrated than embarrassed as she pulled her panties up and searched for her pants. She started to remember exactly what happened before she passed out.

"I'm not going to say anything dumb like you drank too much, because I did too," Ranma said. He got up and sat down on the bed. "How are you feeling?"

"Much better than when I woke up," Kiyone grumbled. "When I woke up I thought we'd already fucked. And then I looked down, and saw that you didn't."

Ranma raised a brow. "I didn't think you'd want me touching you when you're passed out."

"You have permission to dress me up at least." She sat down next to him and started buttoning up her blouse. "What time is it?"

"A bit past five."

Kiyone sighed. "We need to get ready for work. We couldn't have made this any worse."

Ranma collapsed back on the bed and had his hands behind his head. "We still have this room till morning checkout."

Kiyone fluffed her hair and turned around to straddle Ranma while facing him. "Why, you think you're still up for it?"

Ranma looked down at his crotch and nothing happened. "Damn it."

"You sure about that?" She had her face close to his, almost ready to kiss him.

He gave her a sour look and gulped as he pushed Kiyone to the side and ran for the bathroom. This one wasn't going away.

Kiyone realized she hadn't rinsed her mouth yet. "Oh my god," she squealed. "I'm so sorry!"

***

April 26th, 2001.

Furinkan High School, Classroom 2S - Nerima, Tokyo. 12:01 PM.

"Class, dismissed."

Ranma laid his head down on the table. "Finally, some time to rest."

Most of the students around him looked at him curiously and kept their distance. Ranma pulled out some rice balls he bought from a convenience store before he came to school.

Getting ready for school in the morning with Kiyone nearly turned disastrous. Both were still reeling from the night before and had come to class reeking of alcohol. He was accosted by a different teacher every hour, while Kiyone had ducked out earlier over an emergency. He was left alone to fend for himself.

But most of the morning was spent worrying over what he had discovered last night of Akari. He couldn't get her crying image and her ruined life out of his head.

"Hey, Ohata*. You sure have guts coming to school smelling like a lousy bum."

*Keisuke Ohata – Ranma's undercover alias from chp 6.

Ranma looked up. "Please, Okuno. Not today."

"Oh I haven't even started, punk." Okuna pulled up a chair next to him along with his goons. They surrounded Ranma at his desk.

"So where'd you go drinking at? You sneak your parents' booze from the cabinet?" Okuna asked.

Ranma tried to wave them off. "I have an ID."

"What?" they all responded in unison.

Okuna tapped him on the shoulder. "Hey. We'll stop bugging you if you can buy us some alcohol with that ID of yours."

Ranma snorted. "You've got to be kidding me. You guys don't have older friends who do that for you?"

"Hey." Okuno smacked the back of Ranma's head. "Watch who you're talking to, Keisuke."

Ranma slowly counted backwards as he tried to filter out Okuna and his friends laughing at his face. "Alright, alright. I will."

"See? You're not such a twerp after all," Okuno said. "Come hang out with us tomorrow, after school. We're gonna set up a party and try to get some girls."

"Really?" Ranma nearly gagged in surprise. He was finally getting somewhere with these jerks. "I'll be there."

-------------------

It took a couple of tries, but Kiyone finally picked up her phone.

"Hey, Kiyone? What happened, I've been trying to call you since noon?" Ranma tossed his backpack on the ground as he sat on the couch.

"I'm sorry," Kiyone replied. "I'm on my way to Okayama right now. Are you back at your safe house?"

"Yeah, I am." Ranma frowned, her voice sounded shaky. "What's wrong?"

Kiyone trembled on the other line. "Something bad. Sergeant Kanemaki committed suicide. His body was found this morning."

"Aw, hell." Ranma covered his face with his hands. "I thought he was on psyche watch?"

"I know." Kiyone blew a frustrated breath. "I'm trying to figure it out. Mihoshi told me he somehow snuck a rope in to make a noose and one of his hands were crushed and broken."

Ranma's blood ran cold. "What?"

Kiyone fought back tears. "I don't understand. Kanemaki-san was distraught but he said he wasn't going to rest until his family's murderers were caught. I can't understand why he'd do that."

"Where was he?"

"A private therapy clinic."

Ranma grimaced.

"Listen," Kiyone said. "I don't think I'll be back until Sunday at least. There's a lot of things I need to take care of. Can you take care of things for me on that end?"

"That's not a problem. But I want you to listen to me very carefully, Kiyone." Ranma searched for a notepad and a pen. "I want you to check out a couple of things while you're there. Don't go through your police channels."

Ranma gave her a detailed list and explained what to do. He ended the call and went to the fridge for a beer. His cell phone rang and he looked at the caller ID.

"Jackson, what's up."

"I got a hit on one of the things you told us to investigate, Ranma. We managed an odd trace to the John Doe we had in autopsy. He was a nobody with a couple of marks in his record for assault and petty robbery and that was no help. But his driver's license said he was a completely different person than what his finger print records showed."

Ranma shrugged. "So the guy had a fake ID. What's new?"

"No, here's where it gets interesting. It wasn't fake. It was registered new late last year by the Department of Transportation."

"Go on."

"Remember Kurosawa remembered one of the license plates for the trucks that escaped us that night?"

"Yeah, it registered to a phony address and a phony owner. Both untraceable." Ranma sighed. "So what?'

"Both the truck and driver's license were registered by the same DoT employee."

Ranma frowned. "That's impossible to know. How would you figure something like that out? There has to be hundreds of workers you need to keep track of for something like that."

"That's what I thought too! I didn't believe them at first," Jackson said. "But in Japan, each transaction by an employee is logged and recorded for work efficiency ratings. One of our techs is a huge snoop and loves making connections out of random data between subjects, and he's usually always wrong and never finds anything. But this one did match, and I don't think it's a coincidence."

"These coincidences are starting to look thin. A cop was found dead in an apparent suicide in the same way I took out that perp at Bokutou Station. The guy was investigating a man I arrested in Okayama, and his wife and unborn child were murdered because of it. It's the reason this whole case was started."

"Do you think the suicide was a message?" Jackson asked.

"Can you cross reference all affiliations with the man I killed? And comb over your own leads too. Look it over."

"What?" Jackson paused. "Oh no, I'm not good with investigative work. This is your turf."

"For christ's sake, Jackson. Weren't you in the French National Police? You can just pretend and try."

"I was recruited through the Army, and I was an operator. Not a cop." Jackson sighed. "I'll do it."

"Good man. Tell me how it turns up." Ranma ended the call.

"Busy day," Ranma said to himself. He managed to guzzle his beer before another call interrupted again.

"Who is it now?" Ranma answered the call. "Hello?"

"Ranma? It's Akane."

An image of Akari flashed through his head. "I'm here."

"I just wanted to call you to ask if you were available tomorrow evening?"

Ranma went to grab another beer from the fridge. "What's the occasion?"

"We're having a family dinner," Akane said.

And since when did you consider me part of the family again, Ranma imagined saying. "I might have time, I might not."

"I hope youcan make it. Kasumi-neechan is making dinner for us."

A home cooked meal from Kasumi-san did sound tempting. "Alright. What time?"

"Great." Akane felt relieved. "Get here by seven, and we'll eat soon after. How's that sound?"

"I'll be there."

"See you then."

Ranma tossed his phone on the couch. He went to his room for some well deserved rest.

***

April 26th, 2001.

36th floor, JNSA Headquarters – Tokyo, Japan. 5:01 PM.

"Thanks, I owe you one," Jackson said.

"Not a problem, sir. You mind taking me to a shooting range with you guys? I've always wanted to shoot a real gun."

"Any time you want. Just give me a ring upstairs."

Jackson took a stack of printouts from the data technician in front of him and went back to his floor. Kurosawa was already waiting for him in his office.

"Thank god for these whiz kids who work for us," Jackson said. He dropped his printouts on his desk.

Kurosawa sifted through them. "Find something interesting?"

"They did." Jackson looked for a certain set of printouts from the middle of the stack. It was marked with pens. "Nobody would have ever found these by accident. And even looking for it was like looking for a needle in a stack of needles."

"On with it, man." Kurosawa was growing impatient.

Jackson pointed to some figures on the sheets. "The truck you identified was registered by a DoT worker in the Sumida prefecture. That truck, along with about a dozen other similar vehicles were reregistered by the same person. An identical number of matching vehicles of the same make, model, and year were reported stolen in the area in the same timeframe. The trucks are common place and the records don't account for the fact that they're made by a particular person, so it's a detail that would slip by just about anyone."

Kurosawa whistled, impressed. "Now that's a hell of a loophole. I would have never made that connection without knowing what's what. What are you planning to do?"

"Captain told me to look into a couple of other things, So I have to stay here. There's more to this, and he should check it out himself. I have everything you need to give him right here. Mind going to pick him up?"

Kurosawa took the printouts with him. "On my way."

Takashi came into the office as Kurosawa left. "Find something good?"

"Yes, sir," Jackson replied. He explained the car thefts and registries.

"Fuck me, now that's a hell of a thin connection," Takayama admitted. "Glad we employ some smart people."

"Any updates on the mole, sir?"

"The list of people who could have arranged this is too big, and we can't possibly monitor who did exactly how much for what. It could be some OL banging or bribing her boss for information for all we know. The CIA are trying to track any missing American weapons stockpiles of their own."

Jackson huffed. "Impossible."

"It's worth a try." Takayama had a printout in his pocket and unfolded it. "We did find this though, it was interesting."

Jackson tried to take a look. "What is it?"

"Intel did the scan and turned it up while doing a cross reference top-secret level background check on two of our assets. It was almost an accident that we found it, and I never knew it before when I did Ranma's background check before we hired him."

"The Captain?" Jackson looked confused. "What is it?"

"Well, it's nothing suspicious. But apparently someone from his past residence is a GS-10 level employee of the JDA*. It's the Director of Finances, Nabiki Tendo. GS-10, but she has a TS* clearance and she's an important woman. They lived together under the same roof when Ranma was a teenager. We never knew about it because crossing a top-secret file against another one is purposefully omitted in normal searches unless you specifically specify for security purposes."

"Wow, that sure is something. Does Ranma know?"

Takayama shook his head. "I don't think so. We did a very thorough check on his history. He rarely if ever talked to his ex-fiancee's family. Nabiki Tendo interned for the JDA in college and has been working for them since. She's a high priority asset."

"I think we'll be able to get a better grasp of what we're dealing with once Ranma goes through with all of our leads. I'm sure we'll get a hit," Jackson said.

----------------

Ranma yawned again and belched out loud as he skimmed through the pile of papers Kurosawa gave him.

"Shit," Kurosawa said in disdain. He opened a window in his SUV. "You drink this early in the day?"

"I was taking a nap, no big deal," Ranma replied, waving it off.

"Why wouldn't these guys just buy the trucks themselves legitimately? They could've gotten them with cash."

"Because they would have to go through a channel where someone actually witnessed them buying it and that leaves a paper trail somewhere, regardless," Ranma replied. "Stealing cars is a dumb idea, but if you have the right connections it doesn't become as much of a hassle and you have a car you can toss at a moment's notice. It's a classic technique for professionals getting getaway cars."

"So what do you think? We on to something here?" Kurosawa asked.

"Definitely. But I'm feeling kind of funny about going back here. Of all the luck..."

"And what about our little pirates?" Kurosawa gave him a black and white photo print out of four people being arrested off a boat dock.

"I'd like you to grill them about the shipping routes and the intel. I'll be right next to you," Ranma said. "How'd you guys get them, anyway?"

"ROK* Navy UDT/SEAL team raided them in the middle of the night. They didn't stand a chance," Kurosawa said. "They had one injured, the one you drilled I believe. She was their main gunner."

*Republic of Korea.

Kurosawa's car made its way inside the gates of the Bokutou-sho Police Precinct and parked in a visitor's spot. Both men climbed out.

"I'm not a cop, and I can do my best to pretend to be one. But I'll be following your lead," Kurosawa said. "You don't need a fake ID and badge? We can make genuine ones for just about any agency back at HQ."

Ranma shook his head. "No need. I screwed up already with those kinds of fairy tales last time I was here. If I need to work with some of these people, the simplest and direct way is the best."

"And OPSEC*?"

*OPerational SECurity.

"Leave that to me. We're not going to advertise to every dickhead in here that we're feds."

They walked into the lobby together and waited in a line behind several other people for the receptionist.

"You packing any heat?" Ranma asked.

"Sure am. I'm in the ol' gun club* after all," Kurosawa replied.

*Not common, but a known nickname for the USMC.

"What's your piece?"

"A .45, good old 1911. My own custom." Kurosawa discreetly tapped on an IWB holster on his hip, completely concealed out of view. "I have another one in my car, I think you've seen that one. How about you?"

"I have one too, but it's a .357 Sig. Our own, in-house, custom."

Kurosawa made a face. "A 9mm in a 1911? What the hell's the matter with you?"

The receptionist called out for them. "Next in line please!"

Ranma tried to hide his scowl as he walked up to the front desk. "We're here to see your chief of detectives. May we go speak to him?"

"Do you have an appointment with Tokuno-san, sir?" The receptionist flipped through a notepad and she searched for a listing.

"Absolutely," Ranma replied crisply. "I know the way. I can just take myself there."

"Sure," she said. She shrugged and pointed him to some doors. "Next in line, please!"

Ranma bowed slightly in gratitude and made his way through some double doors. Kurosawa was right behind him.

"Pulled this before, have you?" Kurosawa said.

"Like I own the place," Ranma said.

"So why the 9mm 1911 again? Why would you taint a classic?" Kurosawa accused.

"I have these hush puppies* in 9mm that work fantastic, didn't want to get rid of them. So Jackson got me the .357 Sig."

*Hush puppies – Sound suppressor.

Kurosawa growled. "That French faggot."

They found their way into the detectives' bureau and were surprised to find it empty. They walked around the desks.

"They must all be in the field," Kurosawa said.

Ranma looked at some scattered memos and photos on the desks. "They're investigating the three guys I took out last week in Juuban."

"Excuse me, can we help you gentlemen?"

Kurosawa turned to face two women at the door in uniform. Ranma recognized the voice before he turned around.

"You!" Natsumi Tsujimoto walked up to the pigtailed man and had her arms crossed. "What are you doing here?"

Miyuki was behind her and held her elbow. She was trying to avoid eye contact with Ranma.

"Is that any way to talk to someone who saved your life?" Ranma responded. He looked over at Miyuki, who was still trying to avoid him. "How are you officers."

Natsumi looked at Kurosawa, who was standing confidently with his arms crossed. "Who's this? Another star detective from the National Police we've never heard of?"

Miyuki went to grab Natsumi's shoulder. "Now wait a minute, Natsumi."

Ranma took a seat on one of the desk chairs. "Now, now. We're on your side. We just came here to ask some questions."

"What can we help you with, Detective Sakamichi?" Miyuki asked.

"If that's even his real name," Natsumi spat. "Come here to kill someone else?"

Kurosawa rapped a desk with his knuckles. "Hey. Your prisoner committed suicide so he wouldn't have to answer to his higher ups or give them away. Makes perfect sense, and happens all the time."

"And who are you, mister?" Natsumi narrowed her eyes. "Can I see some ID? What are you, JNSA?"

Miyuki gulped and tugged at Natsumi's shirt. Kurosawa looked at both of them without falter. Ranma sighed.

"It's not what you think," Ranma said.

------------------

The four of them stood around on the rooftop of the station. Miyuki had made coffee for all of them.

"How can you trust us so easily?" Miyuki asked. She looked at Ranma apprehensively.

"If you were on their payroll they wouldn't have tried to kill you. They would've known who you were," Ranma said.

"And you really didn't kill that guy in the interrogation room?" Natsumi asked.

"You saw me leave, I didn't go anywhere near him," Ranma said.

"Tokuno-san said his hand was broken," Miyuki said.

"He probably fell and broke it while trying to get the noose right," Kurosawa said.

Miyuki kept silent, and Natsumi tried not to lash out at them.

Ranma raised his hands for a truce. "I'm the agent in charge of another operation that might be related to the car theft ring you guys are investigating. I need to know everything about what you guys are working on. Your discreet cooperation with us would be greatly appreciated."

"What do you want us to do?" Natsumi said. She tapped her feet with her arms crossed.

"Just observe and report. Try not to arrest them if you find them. Send what you can to us," Ranma said.

"What is this all for?" Miyuki asked. She steeled herself and looked at him straight.

"I was a street cop before," Ranma said. "I'm trying to catch a cop killer. And I'm going to find them and destroy them."

Miyuki's heart pounded, and she nodded. "You going to kill them too?"

Ranma grit his teeth and mashed his fists. "How many times are you going to ask me that? I'm here to do a job. I do the things you guy's can't handle."

Natsumi looked away this time, and she stared at the ground. Miyuki hung her head.

"I'm sorry," Miyuki apologized.

Ranma pat her shoulder. "It's alright. If you don't mind I'd like another cup of coffee. We'll also leave our contact info for you."

"We leaving?" Kurosawa asked.

Ranma nodded. Kurosawa went back inside and Natsumi followed him with Ranma and Miyuki in tow.

As Ranma got to the staircase Miyuki gently grabbed onto his arm. Kurosawa and Nabiki were already down the next floor and exiting the stairway.

"So, you still haven't told me your real name."

Ranma looked up at her. She had her shoulders withdrawn and was biting her finger. "Didn't fall for it, huh? It's Ranma. Ranma Saotome." He started walking back down.

"Ranma?" Miyuki whispered. She stopped biting her finger. "Hmmm," she sighed.

------------------

"Yeah, glad to hear that Kiyone. Can you give the family my condolences? And tell Mihoshi I said hi." Ranma ended the call on his cell phone.

"This is a nice place you grew up in," Kurosawa said. He was driving them back to Nerima to drop Ranma back off. "Wouldn't mind hanging out here."

"As soon as we clean it up," Ranma said. He leaned back in his seat and looked out the window as they passed one narrow street after another. They had to drive slowly in these neighborhood streets.

Ranma's eyes caught a group of teenagers huddled around a car in an alley. "Hey, stop the car real quick."

Kurosawa parked the car against a wall past the alley and Ranma hopped out. He went behind Ranma who was peering around the corner. "What is it?"

"Local kids," Ranma whispered. "I saw them handing off little plastic bags. Could be a drug deal."

"In broad daylight?" Kurosawa whispered back.

"It doesn't look suspicious in a country that isn't used to street peddling," Ranma replied. He got a good look at them.

There was an adult in the car, and he was apparently the client. There were three teenagers, one was collecting the money while the other was right behind him keeping a lookout. The third boy was standing and watching over all of them. He had styled, spiky brown hair.

Ranma poked Kurosawa back with his elbow. "Let's get out of here."

They hopped back in the car and drove away. The safe house was actually already on the next block.

"Not going to do anything about it?" Kurosawa asked.

"I don't know," Ranma said. He rubbed his chin. "He probably goes to Furinkan, but I don't think I've seen him before. I'll find out on my own."

***

April 27th, 2001.

Furinkan High School - Nerima, Tokyo. 4:02 PM.

Ranma ran out to the front of the school gates with Okuno and his friends Toshi and Kenichi.

"C'mon, don't stop! If Ninomiya-sensei catches us ditching cleaning duty we'll be sucked like vampires!" Okuno said while sprinting.

The four of them made their way to a local market street full of vendors. The three other boys handed Ranma crumpled wads of money.

"Now go get the good shit, alright? I want to impress the girls from St. Hebereke tonight," Okuno said. He patted his pocket. "You do this right, maybe we'll let you party with us. And I got something to guarantee the night goes well!"

The other two nodded in agreement as Ranma straightened out the bills.

"Since when did St. Hebereke have girls who liked to party? I remem- I mean I heard they're all a bunch of prudes," Ranma said.

"Oh man, are you kidding me?" Toshi said.

"Ever since they've had that crazy assistant principal of theirs there, I heard some of the girls liked to rebel by partying," Kenichi said.

"What? Who's their assistant principal?" Ranma asked.

Okuno shrugged. "Some hot girl named Kodachi Kuno. I heard her dad used to be the principal at Furinkan. Principal Kuno left long before I was even here, but apparently his kids bought St. Hebereke and also have a hand in running it."

Ranma's jaw dropped. "You don't say."

-------------

"Can I get my clothes back?" Ranma traded the bags of expensive liquor for his school uniform shirt. He had to take it off and pull his shirt out so that he wouldn't look like a teenager buying alcohol.

Okuna looked through the goods as they walked off to another alley to check out their stash. Toshi and Kenichi also took a look.

"Wow, you must know your stuff," Okuno said. He held out a bottle of Johnnie Black. "I've seen adults drink this stuff."

The other two were impressed as well. They both punched him in the arms with smiles. Okuno gave him a playful slug to the stomach.

"Not bad. Maybe you're not such a punk bitch," Okuno said. "Shit, maybe we'll let you hang out with us."

"Yeah, maybe he can help you start paying me faster for all the shit I've done for you," said a voice from behind them.

Ranma and Okuno turned around to face three other boys wearing the same school uniforms as them. Ranma recognized the guy in front. He was the spiky haired kid from yesterday.

Okuno froze in place. "Hey, Shiro. We were going to party with some chicks later tonight. You guys want to come with us?"

Ranma stood behind Toshi and Kenichi who were both backpedaling slowly.

"Who is he," Ranma whispered in Toshi's ear.

"That's Shiro Yukado," Toshi whispered back, his voice trembling. "He's top kick at our school."

Yukado rummaged through the plastic bags of liquor. "Motherfucker, if you have the money to buy expensive fucking booze then why can't you be quicker with paying me back?"

Okuno pulled out a thick wad of ten thousand yen bills and raised his hands. "I've got this on me, I'll get you the rest at the end of this weekend."

"Is that right?" Yukado snatched the money and pocketed it. He got in Okuno's face. "And the package?"

"I already had it dropped off in your backyard early this morning," Okuno whimpered.

"Good." Yukado rolled up his sleeves. "But you still can't get your priorities straight sometimes. You know that, you degenerate son of a bitch?"

They all watched as Yukado back handed Okuno in the face and onto the ground. "I gave you a nice fat advance, and always gave you what you asked. Don't take me lightly." He looked up at Ranma, Toshi, and Kenichi. "You three, stay right where you are."

Okuno rubbed his face as he got up from the ground. Yukado pointed to one of his friends and he stepped up to Okuno.

Yukado tapped his friend on the shoulder. "Teach him a lesson, Taki. We'll meet up later."

Taki had a clean look about him with his crew cut hair. "See ya."

Okuno groaned. "Man..."

Ranma recognized Taki. He was one of Akane and Ryoga's advanced class students. He put his head down and ignored Okuno's muffled moans as he was pummeled back to the ground. He was in disguise, but didn't want to be recognized.

Okuno's friends were shaky from watching their buddy get beat up. Okuno was helpless to a trained martial artist like Taki.

"Come on, Taki! He's had enough!" Kenichi yelled.

"Let him go!" Toshi yelled with him.

Taki had lifted Okuno by his shirt and was about to punch him on his bruised face. "What was that?" He tossed Okuno down.

Ranma was off to the side and watched as Taki walked over to Toshi and Kenichi. Both of them had their fists up against Taki.

Taki shoved them both with his hands on their chests. "Who the hell do you assholes think you're talking to, huh?"

Kenichi yelled and tried to throw a sloppy haymaker with his left. Taki dodged and kneed him in the stomach, crumpling him to the ground.

Toshi jumped back, he knew he was no match against him.

"You punks think you can take on a guy like me? I'm a black belt in Musabetsu Kakuto Ryuu. Don't even try to step to this," Taki said, preparing a front push kick.

Without warning Taki was kicked under the knee by Ranma as his foot was about to reach Toshi. Taki yelped and pulled his leg back in, hopping on one foot in pain.

"What the fuck was that!" Taki screamed.

Ranma walked in front of Toshi and shoved him aside. His face was set stern. "You like to pick on people who can't defend themselves with your skills?"

Okuno was still on the ground from his own beating, but he gasped as he saw Taki getting angry. "What the hell are you doing Keisuke! He'll kill you! Apologize now!"

"Too late!" Taki snarled. "You fucked up big time. You're going to get some now."

Taki assaulted Ranma with a barrage of Kenpo punches and kicks in an offensive rush. Ranma dodged them with minimal movement, letting his punches and kicks slide over his clothes. Ranma blocked a few kicks and punches with his feet, his arms at his side the whole time.

"Not bad, punk." Taki spat on the ground. "But I haven't even started yet."

Ranma laughed. "I don't even have to start anything to take down the likes of you."

Taki smirked and let out a battle cry. He popped forward with a punch and roundhouse kick combo. Ranma stepped forward and clotheslined him to the ground with an extended arm as Taki was transitioning into his kick. Taki landed on the back of his head and grunted. Ranma knocked him out with jab across the chin.

"Jerk," Ranma said.

He dusted off his hands and saw Okuno being helped up by Toshi and Kenichi. They were staring at him with wide open eyes.

---------------

Okuno took another swig of his paper cup full of whiskey. He picked up a bottle with both hands and poured another shot for Ranma, his head slightly lowered. They were sitting by the hilly grass near Ranma's favorite bridge.

"When you miserable bastards get a little older, you'll understand," Ranma said. He sipped his drink and blew his breath to cool the burn. "Don't be jerks and act like gangsters when you're students. These are the best times in your life."

"Where'd you learn to fight like that?" Okuno asked. He rubbed his jaw. His face was hurting all over.

"That ain't important. I just don't like bullies," Ranma said.

Okuno immediately dropped down in front of Ranma and bowed to him repeatedly. "I'm so sorry I bullied you! I'll never do it again!"

Ranma smacked him upside the head. "Get up you fool. Just relax and have a drink."

Okuno obliged by gulping down several shots worth of liquor at once.. They were alone, and Toshi and Kenichi had gone off to get their friends from St. Hebereke.

"I was angry when that kid talked about his school's martial arts so proudly when he was beating you up. What kind of honor is that?" Ranma asked. "What kind of respect is that to your master? Your teacher who taught you the art? There's an old proverb, have you heard it? The student behaves with such humility that he doesn't dare to step on his teacher's shadow."

"As long as I get Shiro his money, I know he'll be fine with that happened," Okuno said. He looked up at Ranma hopefully. "As long as you're next to me, I know Taki won't cause trouble. Even if he did you can take him, right?"

Ranma stared at the river. "What do you give him money for?"

Okuno looked over his shoulders. No one was around. He pulled out a plastic bag from his pocket. "You saved my ass, man. I can trust you. I'll make it your worthwhile, you can be rich as fuck with this."

Ranma looked down. The bag was filled with crumbled bits of white rocks and powder. Okuno opened it up and dug his house keys in, getting a bit on the top. He snorted the bump through one of his nostrils.

Okuno sniffled and sucked it back with deep breaths. "This shit's the best when you're drunk. Grade-A Columbian man. And I got the hook."

"You're serious?" Ranma looked at the powder. It was an off color white. "Mind if I try some?"

"Be my guest, man!" Okuno kept sniffling. He took another bump through the other nostril. "Shiro gives me the good shit before he cuts it down."

Ranma licked the tip of his index finger and pressed it into the bag for some of the finer bits of powder. He put it on his tongue and rubbed the rest of it on top of his gums. It dissolved silky smooth and had an intensely chemically tang to it. He underestimated the quality of it as the miniscule amount dissolved into the back of his throat.

"Man, you definitely aren't a pussy. I would have never guessed coming from the way you acted when I first met you," Okuno said. "You tried it without a second thought. You ever do coke before?"

Ranma blinked and realized his slip. "No, this is my first time." He smacked his lips, the taste of the coke still strong. "I've always wanted to try it like in the movies, you know?"

They sat there for a few minutes being drunk and enjoying the quiet riverbank. Okuno gave himself another set of bumps, bigger ones this time. Ranma felt his throat go numb along with the rest of his mouth and felt his senses getting sharper. He uncomfortably scratched at his throat.

"Feels like a tennis ball in there, huh?" Okuno said. His eyes were wide open and pupils dilated. "That's how you know it's kicked in."

Ranma suppressed the urge to panic. He had learned how to taste drugs before, but this was the first time he had gotten too sloppy and given himself too much. Each breath once it passed through his esophagus felt like a crisp winter breeze down his throat. His mood was elevated, and he felt the comfortable drunk warmth of his whiskey melting away.

"So," Ranma said, coughing. "How do you get this stuff? I mean what the hell do you do with it?"

"You want some more?" Okuno saw Ranma shake his head and then pocketed his drugs. He laid back on the grass and looked up at the sky. "I'm not the one who orders it and stuff. Shiro's the one who knows where it comes from. He gets a guy to give it to me and I accept delivery. I then drop it off at Shiro's or give it to him directly. We get it in these big old bricks wrapped up in plastic."

Ranma felt speechless. "Do you make a lot of money, like in the movies?"

Okuno inhaled deeply to get another trickle of nose candy slipping down his throat. "Oh man, you don't even know! On a good day sometimes I make two million yen a day! But only a tiny bit of that goes to me since I'm using it too." The coke made his lips loose. "I have to give almost everything to Shiro, but I get all the free coke I want. Shiro can't keep that money either. I don't know where it goes from there."

There's the Furinkan pipeline, Ranma thought. Or at least part of it. "Who do you sell to?"

"Anyone who wants it, man." Okuno scratches his own throat. "Salarymen, teenagers, college students. Some schoolmates with rich ass pockets, but those are few and they keep their mouths shut tight. "Even housewives, man. Fed up housewives with money making husbands who are bored out of their minds. I can tell."

"Wow," Ranma said. He felt the ball in his mouth going away almost as quick as it had come. He felt the guilty urge to ask for some more. "How long have you been doing this for?"

"Like this past year," Okuno said. "I just follow orders and do what I'm told and sell it in my free time to whoever. I have to make drop offs sometimes to some places across the city when Shiro gives me an address or something. Big bricks too, like tens of millions worth. I don't pick up money from those. I guess they already pay someone."

"I need to make some money too man, count me in." Ranma pat Okuno on the shoulder.

Okuno wrapped his arms around Ranma's shoulder. "You got it, brother. We can expand our business and go places where I would've been afraid to get my ass kicked without you around."

Toshi and Kenichi yelled from the street with a couple of cute girls behind them. Ranma and Okuno got up from the grass hill.

"I need to take off, gotta go home early," Ranma said.

"You sure?" Okuno said, wiping his nose. "The girls are here man, lets have some fun."

"It's alright. You guys enjoy. I'm off," Ranma said. He waved them a goodbye and jogged away.

***

April 26th, 2001.

Silver Lining Pachinko - Roppongi, Tokyo. 6:40 PM.

The loud and constant footsteps above did a good job in hiding the noisy sound of boxes being ripped open and guns being carelessly sorted on several large folding tables. Men in black suits and flamboyant silk shirts gathered around. Others were gathered around a large glass coffee table that was in the middle of the basement. Clumped up ant hills of cocaine and racked up pinky sized lines awaited several eager nostrils.

Twenty-three year old Masa Hirotaki gathered around his small group of loyal brothers, the very bottom barrel of underlings of the Oroshii clan. "Boys, this is our chance to prove to Aniki* that we can take on Tokyo," he announced.

*Big Brother.

Masa's best friend was the only sober one in the room. Everyone called him Leo, after Leonardo DiCaprio for his pretty boy looks and his overly cool demeanor with women. He watched his friend sniffling back a fresh line he had snorted a few minutes ago.

"Masa, think it over," Leo warned him. "Aniki and Mr. Joshua told us we need to stay cool. Now more than ever."

"Fuck it, Leo. With these in our hands, we're the most powerful group in Japan. No one can stop us. We're not going to get robbed of our own since we're prepared."

All the men in the room shouted in agreement. "Yeah!"

Leo sighed. "The boss hired that foreigner to advise us about how and when to use these. What's the point if we just disobey him?"

"I just need five other guys with me, including the driver," Masa said. "You in or you out?"

Leo couldn't say no to a brother. "I'm with you all the way man. I always have." He looked at the impressive stacks of weaponry and the crates of ammo that came with them. They were definitely confidence inspiring. He really hoped there was no in Tokyo who could take them on.

***

April 26th, 2001.

Tendo Residence - Nerima, Tokyo. 7:04 PM.

Ranma sneezed as he took off his shoes to enter the Tendo home.

"What's the matter, you catch a cold?" Akane said.

"I don't think so," Ranma said. "My parents couldn't make it by the way. They're visiting the family grave this weekend. I brought a gift though."

Akane took the fancy box from his hands. "Cake? What kind?"

"Tiramisu," Ranma replied. He had something else in his other hand. "And I bought a bottle of white wine."

Akane led him to the tea room, where everyone was gathered. Ryoga was sitting next to Nabiki chatting, and they both paused to look at him while Akane took her seat next to Ryoga. Ranma bowed to Soun, who looked happy to see him. He saw Tofu in the room as well, and awkwardly stuck out his hand for a handshake.

Tofu stood up to grab his hand. His face was neutral. "How are you, Ranma-kun?"

"I never got around to apologizing for what I did to you, Tofu-sensei," Ranma said.

Tofu cracked a wry smile. "That's fine. I'll consider your seven year absence as a slip."

"You know, when that comes out of someone else's mouth it sounds so much worse," Ranma said, chuckling. "I'm sorry I never even congratulated you for getting married."

Didn't do that for us either, Ryoga and Akane thought simultaneously.

"Is that liquor I smell on you?" Tofu asked, sniffing around Ranma.

Ranma waved it off. "I had a drink earlier in the afternoon. It's nothing."

"Nothing wrong with that," Tofu said. "It's just I always thought you didn't like it."

"Kind of early in the day, isn't it?" Akane asked. She still couldn't get over the beers Ranma had for dinner the other night.

Ranma took a seat from where he was standing and pulled his legs into the table. "There's a bottle of sake over there," Ranma pointed in the corner. It looked like an expensive one too.

"Ah, that's for later," Nabiki said.

Ranma turned to his left. He had sat down next to Nabiki without looking. "How are you Nabiki."

Nabiki had her head propped on the table with her arm. "Nothing much, Saotome." She nibbled on a rice cracker. "You?"

Ranma mentally cursed. "I never apologized to you either, Nabs. I'm sorry."

"In nearly ten years I'd never think I'd actually hear you say that on your own," Nabiki said. "I must be getting old."

Ranma shifted the corner of his mouth. "Good to know you still have your sense of humor, I guess." He looked at Ryoga. "Hey Ryoga, the dojo lights were still on when I came here. Is there still a class?"

Ryoga shook his head. "No, one of my special students came late to class today. I'm punishing him by cleaning the dojo floor by himself. He's a good kid but causes trouble like this once in a while. He really screwed up this time."

"Oh, that's what it is." Ranma smirked. "Any of your students bully other kids with their skills?"

Ryoga frowned. "I hope not."

"And how's your work been?" Nabiki asked.

"Busy," Ranma quickly replied. "Where's Kasumi?" he asked aloud.

Tofu stuck his thumb towards the kitchen. "She's cooking, as always. Been a while since you've had a meal from her, hasn't it?"

Nabiki rolled her eyes at Tofu.

Ranma got up with the bottle of wine in his hand. "I need to go put this in the fridge. I'll go say hi to her."

----------------

Kasumi's hands nearly slipped as she unplugged the jumbo sized rice cooker and set it down on the ground to carry it in to the dining table in the tea room. It was only used for big parties and was used on a daily basis when the Saotomes had lived here under the same roof. She set up several trays on the empty space on the counter to lay out the side dishes for everyone.

It was a heavy amount of work, because she remembered that Ranma never had a particular favorite food that he liked. He liked food, and having lots of it. She sipped on a glass of dark plum wine before she resumed chopping up some fresh scallions to mix into the miso soup and garnish the other dishes with.

"What you drinking , Kasumi-san?"

"Ara!" Kasumi nearly dropped her knife. She set it on the cutting board and turned around, her cheeks turning red. "Just some plum wine. I'm sorry, I didn't think anyone would be coming back here."

"Don't worry about it," Ranma said. "I won't tell anyone you were sneaking a bit for yourself while you were cooking. I brought some nice white wine too, I'm going to put it in the fridge. We can all have some later."

Kasumi put a hand on her face. "That sounds great."

Ranma stored the wine away and looked at Kasumi standing in the kitchen with her old apron. She looked tired and looked like she aged older than either of her sisters. "I'm sorry about what happened the last time you saw me. I didn't mean to cause trouble like that, not after all these years."

"Don't worry," Kasumi said, covering a smile over her closed hand. "It's been such a long time since we saw you, I think you being there was just a shock anyway. We missed you around here."

Ranma scratched the back of his head. Kasumi was one of the few benevolent souls he card about and had left behind without ill will. "I missed you, Kasumi."

"I missed you too, Ranma." She came up to him and gave him a great big hug.

After his embrace, Ranma took a look at all the food being made. "Wow, you're making all this by yourself? You have two sisters in the house, you know. I heard even Akane's cooking is normal now."

Kasumi's eyes shifted uncomfortably. "Oh, it's fine. I always take care of this stuff. You go back in the room and join everyone else."

"Nonsense." Ranma looked through the cupboards and found everything was still exactly as he remembered. "I'll carry the rice cooker and all the bowls and utensils."

He stacked several bowls and dishes on top of each other along with chopsticks and spoons. They balanced in one long tower in his hand. He easily hefted the heavy rice cooker in the other.

"Thanks, Ranma." Kasumi felt grateful she didn't have to carry that huge rice cooker on her own.

"Not a problem," he replied. Ranma went back to the tea room.

Kasumi watched him leave and went back to work. Her eyes turned weary as she quietly sipped her plum wine.

------------------

Ranma refused a slice of cake as Akane gave everyone a piece. He swirled his sake in a cup. He was satisfied from the feast that Kasumi had prepared. Ryoga and Akane refrained from drinking, with Ryoga taking one small shot glass of sake from Soun out of respect. Soun and Tofu were engrossed in conversation over their own cups of alcohol, with Akane and Ryogo chiming in. They were talking about the affairs of the dojo. Kasumi was clearing the table and carefully separating empty dishes from the leftovers. Ranma and Nabiki were the only ones who offered help.

Ranma offered Kasumi a cup. "Would you like some, Kasumi-san?"

Tofu laughed from his seat. "Oh, that's fine Ranma. Kasumi won't drink, especially when she's got work to do."

Ranma raised a brow and Nabiki covered her face with her hands behind Ranma, out of Tofu's view. No one noticed Kasumi's expressionless face.

"It's been so long since I've seen Ranma, dear," Kasumi said sweetly. "I'm sure one drink will be fine."

Ranma poured into her cup without waiting for a response from Tofu.

"Oh, that's fine then. Just be careful, we don't want you to get too tipsy now," Tofu said. He tapped his wife's nose and winked.

Kasumi took a careful, but deep sip with both her hands. She elegantly covered her gulping. "Of course not, dear." She grabbed Ranma's cup. "Do you mind finishing the rest of mine, Ranma-kun? I don't think I can finish this."

Ranma watched as Kasumi poured, but only saw a few droplets land into his cup. He looked at her with eyes slightly raised. She then went back to carrying her trays into the kitchen.

The room had gotten stuffy, so the sliding doors were all opened to show the koi pond. Ranma slugged down his cup and went to take a seat by the edge on the veranda. Nabiki came by and sat next to him with a different bottle of sake and topped off Ranma's sake cup and then refilled her own. "So how goes your life?"

"Busy." Ranma took a sip.

"Heard that already." Nabiki swirled her cup. "You enjoying work in the JNSA?"

Ranma didn't answer as he drank from his cup. He looked over at Nabiki, who was looking at him pensively. She refilled his cup again as soon as he let it down. He wanted to stay angry and apprehensive at her, but her passive gesture made him feel guilty. He loosened up his shoulders and slumped a little.

"It wasn't the cakewalk I was hoping it'd be," Ranma replied. "Some of the things I'd left LA for were waiting for me here in Japan. Like it was just begging my return."

"Streets of crime?"

"Drugs and gangs," Ranma said. He sighed and continued sipping his drink. He refilled it on his own, and returned the courtesy to Nabiki.

"This is Japan, we have plenty of gangs. But drugs?" Nabiki gently swung her legs they hung off the ledge.

"And guns too." Ranma didn't notice Nabiki stiffening up. "Lots of them. I'm putting in some serious work around here cause there's way too many bad guys with all sorts of guns around here."

Nabiki licked her lips. "Sounds interesting."

"Nah," Ranma said. "It's a lot of heavy handed mumbo jumbo."

"Think it's too smart for me or something?" Nabiki smiled. "Amuse me," she goaded.

"Someone's stockpiling weapons across Japan and they're paying for it with drug money. There's already been some incidents."

Nabiki felt her veins freeze, and she quickly took down her cup in one shot. "Really? I didn't hear anything like that in the news."

"It's cause we had a media blackout. Didn't want a panic." He topped off Nabiki's cup.

Nabiki took a long drag of her cup and emptied it again. Her head swarmed with revelation and cursing. It had been the JNSA after all, not the police. No wonder she couldn't find out a thing.

"You can really take them down, Nabs. Here's another."

"So you going to put on a cape and save the country, Captain?"

Ranma chuckled. "No, Nabs."

"So what you planning to do?"

"Catch 'em."

"Catch? Catch who? Do you know who to look for?"

Ranma gave a lazy shrug. "Gotta catch 'em all."

Nabiki felt her head getting cloudy. She started growing impatient. "I mean do you have a plan? Know who to go after to catch?"

"I'm doing something." Ranma shook his head and leaned it to the side, his eyes matching hers. "What's up? Why're you so curious?"

Nabiki's expression stayed perfectly neutral. "Hey, sounds excited. Just wondering."

"And what have you been up to?"

"Moi?"

"Yeah, you. Where have you been working? And how much money you've been making?"

Nabiki shook her head with a dignified sweep. "I'm a finance officer, handling money and lending it out," she said, with her hand on her chest. "I make plenty enough. I helped pay remodeling the whole house."

"That sounds like you." Ranma nodded. "Making money in the money business, huh? Heard about that. I hear you lend money to friends we know?"

Nabiki looked at him from the corner of her eye. "Who told you?"

"I heard from people. Heard about Ukyou's restaurant expansions."

"I like to help people out, didn't you know?"

"Yeah, sure." Ranma drank the rest of his cup and held it in his hands, covered.

They sat together in silence and watched the koi fish in the pound jumping over the water. Neither had sat together like this and shared a conversation in years.

Ranma got up. "I'm going to check on Kasumi. She's cleaning everything all by herself."

Nabiki nodded and raised the bottle to her lips and drank it straight. Ranma looked at her with a puzzled face.

"What?" Nabiki wiped her mouth. "I bought it."

---------------

Ranma heard a rhythmic cacophony of pots and pans being scrubbed and cleaned as he entered the kitchen. He saw Kasumi slightly hunched over the sink, engrossed in her work. He pulled out a chair next to the small coffee table inside. He rustled a waste basket and knocked it over and saw an empty bottle of plum wine that was covered over some discarded paper towels. He swept it back in with his hands.

"Would you like any help?" Ranma asked out loud.

Kasumi's head switched back and she wiped her hands dry on a dish towel. "No thank you, Ranma. I appreciate it thought."

Ranma walked up to the fridge. "How about some white wine then?"

Before Kasumi could protest Ranma grabbed the bottle from the spot he'd left it on the fridge and saw that it was already opened. He looked over at Kasumi who was staring straight down at the sink, trying to avoid eye contact with him. There was a coffee mug right next to her on the counter, and it wasn't in the sink to get washed.

"I won't tell anyone if you won't," Ranma said. He grabbed a similar mug from the cupboard right next to Kasumi and she turned her head slightly away. He poured himself some wine and some more into Kasumi's cup too. "Kasumi-san. Me of all people won't think less of you for having a little drink. You're an adult. I want to enjoy a drink with you."

Kasumi sniffled and grabbed her cup and turned to face him. "Thank you."

Ranma smiled and went back to his chair. He sipped the wine and felt his stomach gurgle, protesting at the mix of different alcohols. He watched Kasumi continue to wash the large pile of dishes and kitchenware at a slower pace than before.

"So," Ranma spoke slowly. "When did things start going sour between you and Tofu?"

Kasumi continued with her chore and took a sip of her mug. "What do you mean?"

"You heard what I said."

"I don't know what you're talking about." She made it look like she was taking another sip, but she poured it down her gullet.

It didn't go unnoticed. Ranma swiftly got back up and filled her cup to the brim with more wine. He turned his back to her.

"I can tell by just looking at how he treats you and the way you react," Ranma said. "I think Nabiki notices too. You hide it well, Kasumi. But it's written all over your body."

"I've always thought you were a good boy when you lived with us, Ranma-kun. And I thought you were a gentleman the way you apologized to me and helped me set up the dinner table," she replied. She coughed and took a deep breath. "But right now, I hope you can watch your tongue."

Ranma paced back and forth across the kitchen. "Well the question is still out there and you haven't answered. What's up with Tofu?"

Kasumi flicked her fingers free of excess water and dried her hands again. She took her mug and knocked back a quick slug of wine and took another deep breath, her back still facing Ranma. "I married a dependable man with a respectable job. He provides for me, he supports me, and doesn't mistreat me."

Ranma threw his hands up in exasperation and sat back down. "The man doesn't have to be a deadbeat who beats you up at home to be a bad husband, Kasumi. Don't pull this older than thou motherly crap on me. I'm not a kid anymore and I know what it's like to be in an adult relationship."

Kasumi sniffled again and turned on her heel. Her eyes narrowed just slightly, with more consternation than Ranma had ever seen from her.

"And my marriage is of no business to anyone, but me and my husband. Not from my sisters and not from you." Kasumi gulped and took another deep breath.

Ranma was taken aback, but he stared at her like he had just seen a ghost. "Why do you keep doing that?"

Kasumi shook her head in mild disgust and looked at him. "What?"

"That. You just did it again." He slowly got up from his seat. "Why do you keep doing that?"

"Doing what?" Kasumi said. She watched as Ranma slowly got closer to her and subconsciously back pedaled.

"Sniffling, gulping, breathing heavily. You've been doing it for a while now."

Kasumi's paranoia started flaring, and she did exactly as he described more evidently. "So what if I am, I'm just a little upset-"

Ranma grabbed her suddenly by the neck and held her still. Kasumi lost her strength and leaned back on the kitchen counter, looking up at Ranma. His grip wasn't strong and his hands were just gently wrapped around her. He felt her smooth skin and it was clammy, and stickled with a very fine mist of perspiration. He got up close to her face, close enough to feel her breathing on his lips.

"Your eyes are dilated," he said.

Kasumi kept absolutely silent and her lips quivered as he kept looking at her uncomfortably close.

"Your skin's all cold," he continued.

Kasumi's eyes watered, and she finally let out a soft whimper.

He finally let her go. "And your heartbeat is so jacked up beyond excitement that you're ready to have a heart attack."

Kasumi stood straight again, and hugged herself. She looked up at Ranma, who looked just as terrified as she felt. A tear rolled down her cheek.

"When did you start using cocaine?" Ranma asked.

"How'd you know?" Kasumi asked.

"I just do," he said. He pointed a shaky finger at her left forearm. "I saw some bits of white residue on your arm. That's where you snorted it from, right? And your cross pendant."

Kasumi's eyes grew wide as she grabbed it from her neck.

"I've seen those before. The lengthwise part of the cross is a hollow tube and unscrews from the top, right? That's where you hide it." Ranma covered his face. He felt his own lips quivering.

"I've been doing this my whole life," Kasumi said, trying not to choke up and cry. "Ever since my mom died, I took care of my family. I took care of you, your father."

Ranma stared at the hard floor. Kasumi walked up right in front of him.

"It was only when your mom started living with us that I finally had a break. Lived out a normal life for a few years until you went to college," she continued.

"And my life went back to the way it was. Taking care of everyone else, before myself. It dragged on and on, and I never had a chance to be a girl like Nabiki and Akane.

"And then Tofu came along, and finally confessed he loved me and insisted we get married without us ever spending any time together to get to know each other on our own. I went along with it, thinking this was the happiest thing that had ever happened to me. But I was wrong.

"It started over again. I was appreciated, and I was loved. But I was set aside and expected to do things as people have always expected me. No suggestions on whether I'd like to go college again. Assumptions that I would be my husband's assistant in his practice, not even as a nurse. Cleaning, cooking, taking care of the house. Making the rounds in the neighborhood. I've been doing this for almost twenty years, Ranma."

Ranma was afraid to look up, but summoned the courage to do so. Kasumi wasn't crying, and hadn't been dripping tears. She was still gulping and sniffling what she had snorted in private.

"And the drugs, Kasumi? How'd that start?" Ranma felt his eyes water instead.

"By accident," she said, smiling ruefully. "One of the shop owners blabbed about it and how he kept up all night to do work. I was curious, and sometimes home alone a lot because Tofu makes lots of outcalls. I found a kid on the street who sold it.

"I was lonely and spent a lot of time by myself doing easy, menial tasks. This stuff made me feel so alive, you know? I didn't feel bad about myself for a while and thought passing time was fun. And I never have any fun.

"Before I knew it I was doing it regularly behind everyone's back. Not a lot, just enough for me," she said. "Not enough to hurt me. Just enough."

"It's never enough. There's no such thing as a safe amount," Ranma said, his mouth pursed in anger.

He completely lost his wits as Kasumi pulled up her dress and apron and sat on top of him on the chair with her legs spread out and her arms around his neck. Ranma looked at her face again. This time the tears slowly started rolling down.

"I'm 28 years old, Ranma" she spoke, her voice quaking. "And I'm married. And I have to count the days wondering when my husband is going to make love to me."

Ranma's head wanted to jerk back, but it was held in place by Kasumi's arms. He was petrified.

"And I can't ask him out of shame, because he has this idealized image in his head of what kind of woman I am." She started to choke back her tears. "Do you know what that's like."

He squeezed his eyes shut and shook his head no. He opened them again, and saw her big, reddened eyes looking straight into his. The heady perfume of white wine wafted from her small lips. She slowly moved her head forward, and slipped her tongue into his mouth.

Ranma couldn't respond, and she continued for several moments. He gently pushed her off and wiped his mouth.

"You need to get help for your addiction, Kasumi-san." Ranma couldn't look her in the eye. "I'll keep this to myself. But either you get help, or I'll do it for you."

He walked out of the kitchen and out the door to the dojo pathway instead of going back to the tearoom. Kasumi took another look at the leftover white powder marks on her forearm. She tapped out one last line in a neat pour from her hollow tube and gently snorted it. She went back to washing the dishes and scrubbed her arms clean in the soapy water.

----------------

The dojo lights were off and left the yard behind it dark in seclusion. Ranma grabbed his hair and looked up in the sky as he walked aimlessly.

"You look like you need another drink."

Ranma jolted his head in the direction of the darkness. He saw dim lit cherry dot floating in the yard. His eyes adjusted fast. "Nabiki."

"My dad and older sister don't know, so don't tell them," Nabiki said as she took another hit of her cigarette. The darkness hid her flushed face.

Ranma walked next to her, feeling oddly comforted to be in her presence. "When did you start smoking?"

She blew a puff into the clear night air. "When I found out I could do whatever I wanted as an adult."

He grabbed it out of her hand and took a drag. "Sounds like you."

Nabiki had her hand up like she was still holding her cigarette. "And since when the hell did you start smoking?"

Ranma blew his smoke at his feet. "When I lost something important to me."

"Sounds like a good enough reason," Nabiki replied. She lit another smoke in in her mouth. "Finish that one."

"Thanks."

Both of them stood there quietly, glancing at each other between puffs. They giggled each time.

"What's so funny?" Nabiki asked.

"Nothing," Ranma replied. "Just I can't believe I'm standing here next to Nabiki Tendo, having a drunk smoke break."

Nabiki cackled and covered her mouth. "Oh my god, me too!"

"The shit we live to see," Ranma said, savoring another drag.

"Yeah," she agreed.

"I hope you're taking care of yourself, Nabiki."

"Hmm?"

"I meant your body. Your livelihood. You."

She shrugged. "I guess."

A loud series of beeps and whistles started ringing from Ranma's pocket. He fished out his cell phone. It was an emergency radio call. He took the cig out of his mouth and answered it. "What is it?"

Nabiki watched as Ranma's smashed face twisted in worry.

"What? An armed robbery? Where?"

Nabiki watched in fascination as the drama in front of her unfolded.

"Shinjuku? Give me coordinates, I'm on my way!" Ranma ended the call and looked up at Nabiki. "I need to bail right now. Can you tell everyone I said bye? Tell them it was an emergency."

"Sure thing."

Ranma gave her an appreciative nod and ran off. He jumped over the wall and disappeared.

"Wow," Nabiki said to herself. Then something slowly sank in. "Wow. Wow. Oh, wow."

---------------

The diminutive little Honda Jazz that the agency had given him proved valuable in fighting through slogged traffic. This car was nimble as it crashed through sidewalks and slalomed around screaming pedestrians.

Ranma wiped his forehead and looked at the navigation screen on the center console. He was almost there.

Jackson and Kurosawa were already en-route from the HQ building and were going to be late to the scene. Nerima was a much shorter drive away to the gambling parlor he was racing to.

Gunshots rang out in the air before Ranma made it around the last corner. This was a trendy upscale part of Shinjuku that was stacked with night clubs, bars, and gambling parlors run by the local syndicate.

The little Honda's engine screeched at the top of its revving lungs as it slid around the street. Ranma saw from the corner of his eyes several cops who had hidden themselves behind shallow entry ways and wall openings. His car over drifted and slammed into the side of an abandoned police car that was riddled with bullet holes.

Ranma cursed out loud and drive forward. The car scraped along the scrapped police car and Ranma found himself looking out the side of the window with four men holding rifles. He had a split second to recognize them. Automatic rifles.

"Holy shit!" Ranma yelped.

Masa Hirotaki held his banana clipped Ak-74 at the hip and fired off at Ranma's subcompact hatchback. His men followed suit and opened fire in full automatic burst.

The first round whizzed by Ranma's head as he leapt out the driver's door on the right side. He instinctively rolled to the front of the car to get besides the engine. The car was riddled mercilessly as he stayed crumpled and tucked like ball, using the engine block as armor.

All four gangsters were flying high on each of their respective kites as they emptied out their magazines without even aiming right. They were slow at reloading fresh magazines, as they fumbled for the right buttons and pulling out their spares.

Ranma popped up with his 1911 pistol squared away in his eye line. His thumb clicked down on the safety as he drew it high and ready. "Freeze motherfucker!"

Masa had been the only one who had managed to reload his rifle but had it aimed in the air. The other men still had their magazines in their hands.

Ranma had his gun trained at Masa's head and looked at the other men. "Now anybody moves, he dies! Do you understand me?"

One of Masa's underlings stepped forward, rifle still in hand. "I don't think you can take us all, bad ass."

A single shot popped a small mist of red from the middle of his chest as Ranma fired on him without warning and had his gun back to Masa's head before any of them realized what just happened. The gangster dropped dead like a sack of potatoes. No groans, no death rattle.

"Yeah, but I'll get an 'A' for effort. Now the rest of you fuckers lay down your weapons on the ground unless you want to join him! One hand only, butt of the rifle first!" He slowly side stepped and walked around his ruined car. "I ain't saying it twice motherfuckers do it now!"

The first one to lay down his gun was Masa, then the others followed. They all looked like rabid dogs with eyes bloodshot and their breathing out of control.

Ranma watched them carefully as they complied. He felt his adrenaline overpower the alcohol in his blood. "Alright. Now I want you to spread apart, and lay down on the ground with your hands behind your head. Interlace your fingers!"

Just then a white Toyota Cresta sedan drove out to the street from a side alley and popped up to Ranma's right. The driver had a MAC-10 extended in his way and fired off a barrage of automatic .45 lead in his direction. Ranma back flipped and went behind the exact same spot behind the engine of his car, and aimed his pistol while crouched. He fired four rounds through the doors to get the driver and hit him twice in the side of his torso.

Leo screamed at his friends as they scrambled towards the getaway car. He felt two rounds pierce his body and saw an exit wound pop from the right of his belly and felt the sensation of a hot piercing rod jammed through one of his lungs. He tossed his empty MAC-10 and grabbed another loaded one that was sitting on the passenger seat and sprayed another barrage of covering fire for his guys.

Ranma picked off two more guys as they ran with three rounds to each of them aimed at their upper torsos. After the eleventh round his 1911 locked back in battery and Ranma depressed the magazine lever and flicked it out forcefully with his wrist and smoothly drew his gun up again with his weak hand ramming a fresh magazine into the well. His hands met up in a compound grip as his arms extended and his shoulders rocked forward in an isosceles shooting stance.

As soon as his thumb smacked down the slide release and a fresh round of hollowpoint .357 Sig chucked its way home into the chamber Ranma fired off into the escaping car as it burned rubber and slipped out of view. Ranma got off all ten rounds and stood in the street with an empty pistol with a smoking barrel.

He depressed the mag release and collected his spent magazine. He stared at the empty corner where the car made its getaway. His teeth were audibly grinding.

"Damn!"

-----------------

Kurosawa surveyed the damage on Ranma's pulverized Honda and took a look at the other police cars damaged by gunfire. Jackson was at the scene of the robbery itself, combing the place.

"Must've been a hell of a shootout," Kurosawa said. He stood by as Ranma sat on the curb. "This place looks like the O.K. Corral."

Ranma hocked a wad of mucus on the street. "Five against one. I took down three."

"Yeah, one pistol versus five machine guns." Kurosawa clicked his tongue. "All in all I'd say you did pretty good."

Ranma stood up, and brushed away Kurosawa's hand. "What the hell did they rob exactly anyway? Where the fuck is Jackson?"

On cue, Jackson ran out of a damaged doorway from behind with a notepad in his hand. "They robbed this gambling parlor right behind us. Not much either. Maybe ten, twenty million yen tops. The getaway driver who ambushed you from the alley had loaded up the cash from a side door that was an employee entrance."

Ranma shook his head. "These guys have kids who make a couple million yen a day doing fucking coke deals on the street. Why they hell would they risk an armed robbery in public streets?"

Jackson flipped through his notepad. "The police told me this area is under the control of the Nakagawa clan. These are all legitimate businesses controlled by the local Yakuza."

"It was a provocation then," Kurosawa said.

"A declaration," Ranma piped in. "Someone wants to start a turf war."

"That clicks right on my end too," Jackson replied.

Ranma looked around at all the chaos around him. The roads were blocked several intersections out and the entire place was on lock down. There were still people from inside the various businesses being evacuated out by the police.

"Can we leave these guys to mop up around here?" Ranma asked.

Jackson nodded. "We have our own guys on the way and all police activity is being channeled through the JNSA Public Safety Commission. Leaks and mistakes and what not, at least we'll know about them."

"Good." Ranma pointed to the Mitsubishi Legnum station wagon, the one Jackson had taken over. Let's get out of here, we have work to do."

[End Chapter 7]

Disclaimer: This is fan fiction, I don't plan to make a profit out of someone else's work, just don't sue me. All respective trademarks, copyrights, whatever-rights, theirs and not mine.

Author's Ramble: I started this chapter at the beginning of this year and worked on it in small chunks at a time for the first few weeks. Then I ignored it for months. And months. And then I finished it over the past few weeks. Crazy is the wonderful word of writer's block and the inspirational muse.

This chapter was actually supposed to be much longer. Much much longer. This chapter was originally envisioned as close to 200k in .txt form, or about 200 pages in Word. But this time, I vowed to work on my pacing and not drag shit out. To do that, I decided this was exactly the right place to cut off.

In fact, I had planned for only one more chapter after this, and then a formal epilogue (short) chapter. But I guess that isn't the case, and I'm going to have ten solid chapters (including the epilogue) to round out this story of mine which has been 8 years in the making.

8 years, wow. Has it really been that long? For all of those who have read my fics till now, I just want to take a moment to thank you very much. Your wonderful comments, criticism, gripes, hates, even flames are very much appreciated and you have no idea how much it inspires me and influences me to write more and improve on it. I don't write as much as I like, nor do I do it as much as I should. That's the difference between real writers and amateur fanfic writers, right? No deadline, and long waits in between. To those of you who wait patiently, I hope you enjoy. To those who have read since the beginning when I first dabbled in this hobby turned passion, a heartfelt thanks and feeling of gratitude. /Long ramble ^_^

Author's Notes: How did you guys like the title of this chapter? Okay, I think most of these will be dedicated to the character development that occurred in this chapter (I'm sure some of you guys went WTF, I was saying the same thing as I was writing it man). But, I gotta do the techie stuff first, HEE HEE.

Major Chris Hideo Kurosawa of the United States Marine Corps. I just love this fucking guy, and I think he's cool as all hell. I put a lot of effort into researching his character and his background, like the career paths he took as well as the kind of Marine he is. He's the laid back, salty professional variety, kind of like how bad-ass Mark Wahlberg was as Gunny Bob Lee Swagger in the movie Shooter (2007), minus the puss-ass left-wing horseshit and all the ass kicking goodness. I promise you Kurosawa isn't just another cool, throw-in character for my amusement, he serves an important purpose in the plot later on. I've thrown enough hints as it is in the story. If you want to know more about Marine Corps Force Reconnaissance and what they do, look it up on Wikipedia. Very good, solid info on there.

Autopsies on dead people where the cause of death is already determined is very common in homicide investigations and other investigations pertaining certain interests. Like Ranma said, it's literally interrogating the dead.

The ROK SEALs who capture the crew from the Black Lagoon are actually direct brother units you could say to US Navy SEAL teams. American SEALs were tasked to helping South Korea create their own maritime Navy special warfare operators. The result was a direct playbook by playbook copy of how the US does it, from training to execution. This is where I had to have Revy injured so that she's not as lethal, because I know there would be a whole lot of (unfortunately canonically legitimate) bitching from Black Lagoon fags who would say Revy's pistoleering skills are too l33t for mere SEALs.

I'm not going to say much about Ranma and Kiyone's little ooh-la-la moment, because honestly there's not much to say. I had fun writing it and most of it came out pretty smoothly and in one sitting. They're two adults, both with past ADULT relationships, and they have an attraction for each other. And they enjoy each other's drunk presence. I hate all these fics spouting imaginary blueballs and all this gratuitous cock blocking occurs because everyone is a fucking virgin. Well, I wiped out that little barrier since these characters are grown up. But... yeah. A little cockblocking was needed for the sake of plot advancing.

Akari. I've always intended for Akari's introduction to be an accidental discovery by Ranma from when I first seriously started plotting out this story years ago. After trying to dig through Akari's brain and come up with my own interpretive version of her, I refined this tragic state of affairs in which she's living a bleak life for herself caused by events that were out of her control. I wanted to have her mirror Ranma's own bleak turn of events that can totally wreck a person's life, except Akari's beautiful soul has managed to tough it through and make amends with it. I really like her, and felt horribly sorry for her as I brought her to life as some half dressed hostess worker who hustles her body to make ends meet. Oh yes, and unless you guys didn't get the hints, she's obviously not working there by choice.

And I'm sure some of you are wondering why in god's name I did what I did to Kasumi? Well, that too was actually in the outline for years, and it is an absolutely pivotal detail in the plot that you'll just have to wait and see. I had fun/havoc crafting the scenario for Kasumi's described downfall, and I'm sorta glad I didn't have to take too many liberties. To make it happen. Tofu and his "oh my god, I'm such a happy-go-lucky fucker" attitude made it conveniently easy for me, and I turned that around on him to drive his wife certifiably nuts. Poor Kasumi, so ronery and doesn't even have the courage to beg for loving.

And the end shootout with the gangstas and Ranma at the O.K. Corral. I was originally envisioning this to be modeled after the legendary shootout in the movie Heat (1995), and the whole tense standoff with Ranma policing four guys at once was taken shamelessly verbatim from a scene in Above The Law, with Steven Seagal. If you recognize it, cool. If you don't, well I'm admitting the scenario isn't original.

And another shamelessly copied set of events, sort of, if you recognized it is the interaction between Ranma and his high school bullies which he saves. Ever watch the movie Doosabu Iilchae (2001)? It's English title is My Boss, My Hero. You can watch is subtitled on YouTube, I believe. It was also ported as a sub par and shitty J-Drama of the same name.

So next time guys, hopefully I won't make you wait as long, but also I can't promise anything either. Only thing I can promise is that I won't quit writing, no matter how lax my updates may seem. I think I've managed to prove that with the readers who've stuck by me through the years. I won't quit. I'll finish it through. I currently need to finish up my chapter 3 revision as it's mocking me like the piece of shit it is, then finally I'll at least have the character and story bits of this story inline.

By the way guys, this shit is chock full of typos and grammatical errors as well as stylistic writing no-no's I've probably pulled. Basically it could use a good prereader's wash and filter. But yeah, just warning you guys, its not perfect.

PLEASE, PLEASE, PLEASE SEND ME FEEDBACK!!! I write way faster when people give me feedback! I swear to god this is true, see this fic? Lots of email for this one. I did it in 11 months, baby! ^_^;; My e-mail is

Although I've previous said I'd use MySpace for updates, I can't promise it'll be as updates as I think it should. I guess I'll try. It's just not as motivating to use as maintaining a real website, despite the shitty and simple html editing I did with my old anifics page. God I miss that page. Can anyone hit me up with free webspace? I got some offers before in the past, now I regret not taking it.

Finished November 4th, 2008.


	8. 08 Reciprocity

IF YOU HAVEN'T READ MY REVISED AND ALMOST COMPLETELY REWRITTEN VERSION OF CHAPTER 3 OF OFFICER SAOTOME, CHECK IT OUT!

This fic is a crossover with Ranma and the Tenchi OAV/Universe series. Hopefully you readers know some basic knowledge about both Ranma and Tenchi:) Compared to movies, I would rate this as a "R" fanfic, because of some of the harsh language used.

Here are a few things you must know while reading this:

-For all of you readers, PLEASE read the notes at the end of the fic before you start flaming me for things that you don't understand or think is bogus, my notes just might answer all your questions. If that doesn't do it, feel free to pound away at my mailbox.

-The Ranma aspect of the story takes place after manga 38 and the Tenchi aspect takes place after the TV show/OVA.

-At the end of manga 38 Ranma was at the end of his sophomore year in Furinkan High School and the year is set to 1992. Don't ask why, I chose that particular date out of convenience. This is to set a timeframe where Akane and Ranma met during their lives.

-Also Ranma still has his curse, but his female form has black hair (like the manga) and is now just as tall as his male form.

-Ranma will seem very out of character, but you have to completely read from the first chapter to understand why. I guess that's what you call character development?

-SgtRanma

Please visit my website at . or email me at

------------------------

Chapter 8: Reciprocity

April 28th, 2001.

Shindo Metal Works – Nerima, Tokyo. 1:57 AM.

Ichiro Itoh looked around for anything else left behind that could be a clue. He watched as his men mopped up the blood from the floor of the office.

A scruffy man in a black suit and a dark blue silk shirt came up to the middle aged Itoh, the boss of all the men in the room. His eyes were watery and glistening. "Aniki*, All we found were some bloody footprints and pieces of Masa's shirt on Leo's body. There's nothing else."

*Formal term for older brother, in this case referring to a gang boss.

Itoh took a moment to look at the deceased man being carried out of the room. He had just closed Leo's eyes earlier with his own hands. "Poor kid. He just stuck around with the wrong men."

The other men in the room were just as somber. Leo was a guy everyone liked and never caused trouble on his own. They all had similar thoughts of bloodlust in their heads as they watched Itoh walk out of the office with a fresh lit cigarette.

The steel grated catwalk platform clicked under Itoh's black leather Ferragamos. He looked at his cell phone and browsed through all the calls he made to Masa Hirotaki's phone. None of them had connected.

A Eurasian man in his early thirties came up behind him. "What are you going to do? That asshole Masa ran off with nearly a third of your weapons. He was only supposed to hold them for us till tomorrow."

Itoh looked at his advisor and hired hand. He pinched the bridge of his nose and took a drag of his smoke. "That stupid, stupid son-of-a-bitch."

South African national Joshua Terrance Kelly pulled back the sleeve of his suit to check his Rolex. "It's the drugs. Your boys got out of control."

"I think I see that," Itoh hissed. He looked over at Mr. Joshua, as everyone called him. "What can you tell me that's useful?"

Mr. Joshua leaned over on the catwalk railing and leaned his head over to Itoh. "Well for starters, you need to replace your cache. Then you need to hire some better drug pushers. Third, we need to get over this quick and not dwell on it."

"Damn," Itoh muttered. "We still have more guns coming in. I'll need to contact our provider. We need to find Masa as soon as possible, he's a loose cannon and knows I'm going to kill him for screwing up tonight."

"Your insiders in the police told me they have three bodies in their custody. It's only a matter of time before they find out who and where they're from."

Itoh shook his head. "I have plenty of ways to misdirect them. We can pin the blame to Masa and his small gang. Our gunrunner is an expert at slipping away."

"I hope you're right. The guys who are bringing on the heat aren't cops," Mr. Joshua said. "It's like what I saw on the harbor when one of them managed to find me and I had to run away. I don't know how many of them there are, but they're onto us and I bet they're the ones that got to Masa and his boys tonight."

Itoh grunted. This was never what he had planned for.

***

April 28th, 2001.

46th floor, JNSA Headquarters – Tokyo, Japan. 2:01 AM.

She stared at her reflection in the bathroom as the faucet ran cold water over her hands. Ranma looked straight into the irises of her cursed form. She felt blood pulsing through her face, coursing through the side of her temples. Another close call, another life taken by her hands. She briefly considered sneaking out of the building to find another drink.

Ranma flecked her hands in the sink and splashed her face with cool water again and proceeded to turn the handles for warm water. The door to the restroom swung open and Kurosawa walked in, eyes also bloodshot.

He stopped dead in his path, and looked at the shapely young woman in front of him. His eyes completely ignored the urinals that were in the same plane of view. "I'm so sorry, maam! I didn't see the sign!"

"Wait!" Ranma yelled, watching Kurosawa scurry out the door. The man hadn't seen her cursed form yet. She hastily wiped her hands dry and ran out the door, the sink still running.

Outside of the bathroom, Kurosawa shuffled his way back into the large shared office space of the 46th floor, the MaxFor base of operations. He joined Jackson and Takayama along with another man in his late forties at a roundtable.

Kurosawa wiped his brow, cheeks flushed from embarrassment. "I can't believe I just walked into the women's restroom. I thought I went the right way because I saw Ranma go in there. Man!"

"It's because you did see me go in there," Ranma replied from behind.

Jackson and Takayama looked up and didn't seem surprised. The new guy at the table just gave the attractive pigtailed girl a good look up and down. Kurosawa looked completely lost.

Ranma sat down on a chair and she pulled out her Washu thermos. "Don't worry, I'll explain in a sec."

-------------

Ranma carefully regarded the JNSA agent he was collaborating with, who had flown in straight by helicopter earlier in the night. A one-time visitor's ID clipped over his breast pocket was a reminder that he was a guest in his own work building as MaxFor was a secure wing of the Public Safety Commission. On loan from a separate department within the agency. He was a sharp talking ex-military man from the Self Defense Forces, and very thorough in his report to the group. He had come to brief Ranma, Jackson, and Kurosawa on the current welfare of the Yakuza in Honshu and especially the greater Tokyo Metropolitan Area. It was his specialty. And they needed an immediate expert on the subject at the moment.

The loaned agent dismissed himself and was thanked for his help, leaving the four other MaxFor men at the table with folder of various documents and photos scattered amongst them. Takayama had been on the phone for half the time trying to relay orders and handle damage control to the public, while the others were busy piecing together the relationships between the businesses targeted and the men Ranma shot dead in the street. The bodies were at a morgue at the Tokyo Metropolitan Police's headquarters where the police were zealously investigating on their own. The JNSA agent who had just left the room was on his way to the morgue to represent the agency.

"It's too late," Takayama sighed. He pocketed his phone into the breast pocket of his leather jacket. His hair was disheveled as he had been called up late at night to join his men. "The news outlets are reporting the robbery and it's out in the open there was a gunfight in Tokyo streets."

Jackson shook his head. "That can't be good."

"No cover at all?" Kurosawa asked.

"We managed to spin it," Ranma said. He had also worked with Takayama the moment he had arrived to the building to control the media. "They think it's a robbery gone wrong."

"Our Yakuza specialist thinks that as longs as these don't happen too often and too close together, we can shift blame to a turf war," Takayama said.

"Well, it IS a turf war. But we've managed to omit a few things," Ranma replied.

"I say let them kill each other," Kurosawa said.

Jackson scowled. "Is that the answer for everything?"

Takayama leaned over and whispered in Ranma's ear. "Kurosawa's like you. He has the warrior ethos and all that Marine Corps moto in between his ears. Jackson's spent his whole career doing hostage rescue. He comes from the school of deadly force as an absolute last resort."

Ranma blinked and looked at his partner bantering with Kurosawa. He read up on his partner's past, but didn't think his boss had something to say about Jackson's merciful sentiments. "Is that why the son-of-a-bitch carries an M-60 in the trunk?"

"I showed him a lot of Chuck Norris and Charles Bronson movies when he was a kid." Takayama shrugged.

Kurosawa stood up and pushed in his chair. "Any of you want some coffee?"

Ranma was the only one who accepted. "I managed to find out the drug pipeline at Furinkan High School."

Takayama nodded. "Let's have it."

"It's a senior boy named Yukado Shiro. I managed to become friends with one of his lackeys, a kid in my class named Okuno Hiroko." Ranma tapped his finger on the desk. "I can handle the onsite surveillance and stay deep and find out more about how they work. We need wiretaps on all their phones."

"I can have SIGINT* on him setup by morning. We can set up ELINT** surveillance from here with our techs and monitor any emails or computer activity," Jackson recommended.

*SIGINT – Signal Intel.

**ELINT – Pronounced E-Lint, short for Electronic Intel.

Ranma turned to Takayama. "We also need someone to get his paper file at Furinkan. Maybe talk to the principal and ask a few questions. My other undercover, Kiyone, is out until Monday."

He turned back to a listing of businesses owned in the area by syndications. It reminded him of something. "By the way, Jackson. Could you do a search for me on an old acquaintance? I was wondering if you could look up her financial past," Ranma asked. He wanted to learn more about Nabiki's past with Akari, among other things. He scribbled her name on a piece of paper and handed it to Jackson.

"Tendo, Nabiki?" Jackson said, reading the scrawl.

Takayama blinked. "Oh, your old housemate?"

Ranma nodded. "How'd you know? I lived with her when I went to high school. I was engaged to her younger sister at the time."

"She works across the street," Takayama said. "Right over at the Japanese Defense Agency."

"Excuse me?" Ranma bit his lip in surprise, he wasn't quite sure he heard him correctly.

"I guess you really didn't know then," Takayama said. He got up to go to his office and brought back a folded sheet of paper that he had tossed into the wastebasket. "She's an agent for the JDA."

Ranma waved his hands in refusal. "No, no. She's a financial consultant of some sorts, not some government agent. Trust me, this must be someone else. Nabiki is all about working with money."

Takayama arched an eye. "She works with money, all right. She's the Director of Finance for the Bureau of Finance and Equipment. It's a GS-10 grade, sensitive position. That's why she's an agent. According to this she's been working for them for six years."

"It can't be." Ranma snatched the printout from Takayama's hand and read it for himself. "I heard she was working with banks and loan sharks! That's the Nabiki I know, anyway."

Jackson's head peeked up. "Loan sharks?"

"Someone I knew from a long time ago was telling me about her just the other night," Ranma said. He was confused by the printout, it had Nabiki's photo on it and a brief description of her. "She helped her get a loan that went bad and now she's fucked for life."

"She's an important government official. She's the comptroller for the entire JDA, I'd say that's right in line with the money business," Takayama said.

Ranma's eyes wandered nervously. "I told her what I did for a living. She knew who and what I am. She never told me any of this."

Jackson frowned. "Neither should've you, really. We're not in an occupation that you can blab to just anyone."

"Can it." Ranma bit his tongue. "How'd you guys look her up?"

As Takayama explained, Kurosawa came back with two mugs of black coffee. He looked at the printout in Ranma's hand as he handed him a cup. "Who's this tasty little cunt?"

"Someone's sister," Ranma replied. Juggling this new find in his head was like dealing with a hurricane. He had no idea what to make of it.

"It's nothing special, really," Takayama said. "There's a lot of star risers in the government like her who were talented and interned early. You just happened to know her."

Ranma nodded. He decided to leave the issue for later. He turned to Jackson again. "I still need to know her personal details. I have to do this for a friend." He scribbled Akari Unryuu and Ukyou Kounji on another piece of paper and gave it to Jackson. "She had some personal dealings with these two. I just want to know what went on with them."

Takayama stole a sip of Ranma's coffee. "Do what you need, just don't let it get in the way of work."

"Yes, sir."

***

April 28th, 2001.

Minami Azabu Mansions – Minato, Tokyo. 10:06 AM.

Nabiki cradled her head in her arms as she clutched her phone to her ears. She was still feeling sluggish from last night's sake.

"I thought we agreed this wouldn't happen again," Nabiki spoke to the phone. "Did you watch the news this morning? The whole city's in an uproar!"

The voice on the other end was just as agitated. "We'll punish our men for what they did, if that makes you rest easy at all. But there's no use crying over spilled milk."

"It's one thing if they actually got away with it." Nabiki paused and took a deep breath and held it in. "But now the cops have a bunch of dead bodies in the morgue!"

"The cops think it was a freak incident gone wrong. You may have been too young, but I remember the days when the Yamaguchi-gumi went to war in the eighties. Things were hot then like it is now. It'll boil over."

Nabiki lit up a cigarette as she walked out into her balcony. The bright sun made her change her mind and she slammed the sliding door shut. "We can't do business like this, Itoh-san. Not anymore. I regret that I have to say we'll have to suspend any other shipments until things completely die down."

Itoh was silent on his end of the phone. "You've already been paid in full. There's no backing out."

Nabiki took an equal pause of silence, taking a slow, pained drag from her smoke. "I'll give back half. You have 70%. I'm taking a 20% cut in losses from what was agreed upon. It's more than fair."

"What's a fair value isn't the concern here. We were promised and expecting another shipment of goods. Our couriers have already gone over to your side, you crafty bitch. I don't care if we get our money back, what's done is done."

Nabiki sank her nails into the headrest of her leather sofa as she walked over to it. "It's too hot! We're all going to get pinched if I keep shoveling weapons into your hands! Don't you get it? Someone's out there and they're on to you guys!"

"So let us worry about it, and finish your end of the deal. I'm not about to have this conversation with you."

"It's not worth jailtime," Nabiki spat.

Itoh sighed. "This family has been good to you for years, Tendo. You've been dealing with the Oroshi group since you dated the son of the head boss. Is this how you repay us?"

"And you pay back your own boss by building up a coup with your own personal army? He who is without sin," she ridiculed.

Itoh smacked his hand down on something that was heard on the other end. "Enough of this fucking chit-chat, Nabiki. This isn't a negotiation. We paid you for a service, and we want it completed. Let's not let it go beyond that."

Nabiki flared. "Are you threatening me? Do you have any idea what I can do to you? I'm not one of your goddamn call girls. Don't even fucking try me, Itoh."

"Oh?" Itoh growled. "Was that a threat to me, Tendo?"

"Either wait a year, or take your money back. I'm sick of being patient too."

Before she could hear a reply Nabiki mashed her finger down to end the call and tossed her phone across the room. She walked to the front of her sofa and fell back, exhausted.

***

April 28th, 2001.

Ucchan's Okonomiyaki 2 – Sumida, Tokyo. 10:32 AM.

Ranma rubbed his eyes and took another sip of his tea. He had slept in the MaxFor offices and took a shower in the locker rooms before he came out to meet Ucchan at her second restaurant. He wondered briefly what Okuno was up to at Furinkan, as he had called him early in the morning to tell him he would be absent from school. He was worried one of Ryoga's students would be gunning after him for retribution in Ranma's wake.

He looked behind him from his seat in front of the grill to see Konatsu cleaning up the dining area, as this was his restaurant to manage. They barely spoke, as they didn't have much to say to each other. The only thing Ranma managed to find out was that Konatsu had been gratefully living his own life under Ucchan's help and he had a steady girlfriend. Ucchan had said she was on her way, and due any minute.

The entry door's bell lightly jingled as it opened and closed behind Ranma and a pair of arms wrapped around him. Ukyou turned his head around and planted a kiss on his lips, catching him by surprise.

"How are you, Ranchan? I was waiting for you to call," she purred.

He nearly caught himself wiping his lips, feeling guilty by the kiss. "I've been busy. How are you, Ucchan?"

"I always have something to do with the restaurant." Ukyou whistled a light tune as she made her way behind the counter and washed her hands and put on a cooking apron over her purple sundress. The griddle top was already oiled and heated up for the restaurant when it opened at the start of the next hour.

Ranma watched the way she hummed about as she started cooking, something he'd seen her do countless times just for him while they were alone. He found he had trouble looking her in the eye.

"So this is your second place, huh?" Ranma said aloud. He looked around and appreciated the simpler décor of this location, it reminded him of Ucchan's shop in Nerima before it was renovated.

Ukyou flipped some ingredients on the griddle. "Sure is. Opened it up a year and a half after you left for college."

He held out a clean plate as Ukyou lifted up a finished plain beef okonomiyaki. It had a smiley face drawn with sauce. "This brings back memories."

Ukyou smiled. "Doesn't it?"

"Yeah." He chewed quietly as she fried some noodles to offer as a side dish, one of her off-the-menu specials. "I wanted to ask you about Nabiki, Ucchan. I heard something interesting about you two from someone we knew?"

"Really?" She continued to cook, scraping her spatulas together on the hot surface to make sure the food wouldn't burn. "What are you talking about?"

"I heard you got a loan from her," he said. "That's how you managed to expand your restaurants right?"

Ukyou shrugged. "Yeah, that's right. I paid her back completely three years ago, I never imagined my restaurants would do so well. Nabiki offered me a loan that no bank could ever offer a young woman with little collateral. It worked out for me."

Ranma continued to eat as Ukyou landed the fried noodles onto a plate. She brought it around on a tray along with a bowl of rice and another plate with random bits of cooked beef, chicken, and pork.

"What's that?" Ranma said, his mouth full of food.

Ukyou winced. "I get sick of eating okonomiyaki, sometimes."

Ranma gulped down his food with a goofy grin. "But that's almost blasphemy in your own restaurant, isn't it?"

Ukyou shrugged again and started eating her own food. "So what brought up Nabiki?"

"Oh, I bumped into Akari Unryuu. She was telling me all about it."

"Akari Unryuu." Now there was a name Ukyou hadn't heard in years. "Wow, how'd you meet her?"

Ranma picked at his food, nibbling smaller bites. "Oh, that's not really important. I literally bumped into her out in Shinjuku. She's real different."

Ukyou blew on a piece of sizzling beef. "I can imagine. Ryoga told us they broke it off clean and we never heard about it again. I always thought it was bogus since they were all lovey-dovey for each other, remember?"

Ranma gripped his chopsticks. "Broke it off clean, he said?"

"That's what we heard. Then before you know it Ryoga's with Akane while you were gone, and it wasn't ever brought up again. What did she do again? It was pig farming, right? I just remember that huge sumo-pig of hers."

"Katsunishiki." Ranma broke his chopsticks as his hand became a trembling fist.

"Yeah, that was his name." She looked over at his broken utensil. "What's the matter? What does Akari have to do with me and Nabiki anyway?"

"......" Ranma stood silent, figuring out how to go about this.

Ukyou frowned and cleaned up the broken wooden chopsticks and grabbed a new set from a tin full of them on the counter. She noticed Ranma's clenched hands and grabbed them, massaging them to relax them.

"What's up with you?" Ukyou raised his hand to her lips and pecked kisses on his knuckles. "Something bad happen?"

Ranma shivered and tried to pull his hand back, but she grabbed on firm and leaned closer to him. "It's a long story. I don't want to talk about it right now."

"So." Ukyou tried to switch up the topic. "What have you been up to the last couple days?"

He tried to pull his hand away again, and succeeded. "I've been swamped with work. Things haven't been too nice, lately."

Ukyou tried to put a hand on his shoulder and was shrugged off by the advance. Her lips thinned. "You doing anything tonight? I could use a play date."

"Sorry, can't do it. More work."

Ukyou's balled up her fists and she arched her eyebrows slightly. She looked around, Konatsu was out of sight. "I thought we shared something the other night."

Ranma took a deep breath. He counted backwards in his head. "We had a good time, I was hoping we could leave it at that."

"A good time, huh." She looked down at her fingernails. "There's more good times ahead, no?"

"Ucchan." He paused and tried to keep his teeth from chattering. Ucchan was the first girl he had ever had a one night stand with, and she was a friend at that. As a grown man with vicarious experience from friends, he belittled himself for his involvement. "I'm not the right guy for you, I never was."

Ukyou pressed her eyes closed and got up from her seat. When she opened them her eyes had a steely look fixed a stern expression. She grabbed Ranma and dragged him towards the back, where the restaurant was connected to the living quarters.

Ranma gave little resistance and helpless followed her into her private dorm, a sparsely finished studio bedroom. He watched as Ukyou locked the door shut as soon as they came in.

"Please, Ucchan. Don't make this any harder than it is."

Ukyou's expression was neutral as she quickly and gently placed a finger over Ranma's lips to keep them shut. She took a step back from him, her eyes fixed on his.

"What are you doing?" Ranma wanted to yell at her and demand what was going on.

"Just look." Ukyou slowly slipped off the straps of her sundress and let it fall and crumple to her feet. In the same motion she unhooked her bra and dropped it on the floor, leaving her bosom for Ranma to see.

Ranma drew a sharp breath and felt his entire body seize up. He stared at Ukyou's large breasts, the most ample by far among the girls he'd been with. Their soft touch was still fresh in his mind.

"We did it several times that night and that morning," he said, gulping.

She walked up to him, a sad look taking over her features as she got closer and snaked her bare leg against his groin. "I've got you here, after all these years. You don't want me?" She reached up and placed her arm around the nape of Ranma's neck and stole a kiss off his lips.

He tried to pull away, feeling his knees go weak. "I find you attractive. I always have, Ucchan. But I don't see you like that. I don't see you beyond a friend."

"You can change. Everyone can change," she whispered, desperation entering her voice. "What's wrong with just giving it a shot? After that you can go, no regrets."

Ranma tried to back pedal against the wall with Ukyou still latched to his body. His hands fumbled against the thermos flask in his pocket, and he hastily pulled it out. Cold water splashed over his head and triggered the curse.

When she realized another set of breasts were pressing back against her chest, Ukyou recoiled back and stared with shock at Ranma's changed form. She immediately covered herself up, scrambling for her bra on the ground, as if she was sobering herself up from a sudden trance.

"I'm sorry," Ranma said, her head hung low. "I have to go. I'll see you around."

Ukyou let out a breath she didn't know she was holding. She silently watched as Ranma left the room and out of her restaurant. She sat down wordlessly, an empty void covering her face.

She saw her cell phone peeking out of a side pocket of the dress she'd left on the floor. A brief thought entered her mind, and she wondered if a certain someone was still in her phonebook.

--------------

Ranma slammed the door of his station wagon shut and he ripped apart the brown bag from the supermarket he had just left. He took out a pint bottle of domestic Japanese whiskey and took a painful slug.

"Stupid, stupid, stupid!"

A text message beeped its arrival on the dashboard's LCD screen, sent from Jackson. Ranma read it aloud, "Return to HQ. Important briefing."

He closed the cap back on the pint flask and tossed it on the passenger seat. The car was brought to life and Ranma squeezed the steering wheel tight, nearly bending it as he screeched the car away.

--------------

The elevator doors chimed open at the same time Ranma checked his wrist watch.

Several of the office workers who recognized him after seeing him come through a few times waved and acknowledged him. A couple of them cringed and looked back as he passed them, as they could've sworn they had caught a whiff of liquorish aroma in the air.

Jackson was already waiting for Ranma outside the same secure meeting room he had been in a few days ago. The lights inside were already dimmed.

"What's going on?" Ranma asked.

"Something good, and not so good. It's pretty big," Jackson said, holding the door open as Ranma walked in. He flinched, and loudly sniffed around Ranma's head. "The fuck? Have you been drinking?"

Ranma sat down on a seat and saw Takayama was already in the room as well, standing by one of the projector screens. "Don't worry about it."

Jackson looked skeptically at his partner as he walked over to the front where he had a laptop set up. "This is big, Ranma. Really big. I don't know how you stumbled upon this, but it's almost a miracle."

Ranma shook his head. "The hell are you talking about?"

Takayama stepped in and took over. "First, we need to talk about the guys you shot and killed last night."

"I'm all ears," Ranma said.

Takayama resumed. "Tokyo MPD* and National Police think they've ID'd three complete nobodies that a local Yakuza faction hired for a dumb robbery gone wrong. All three men had completely authentic records matching their drivers licenses and credit cards, addresses, and car registrations. They also had matching birth certificates and social security numbers that were all conveniently new. Not much else other than that, which is weird. But it's legal, and they exist as real people on paper."

*Metro. Police Dept.

Ranma nodded, looking intently as Jackson presented these various facts on the projection screen.

"Our guy brought back the same data which you see here for us to examine," Takayama continued. "We did our own research and our techs checked using the same cross referencing that they used to find those car robbers who had inside help. It's the same guy who works inside the Department of Transportation, and all they had to do was change their names and info legally on one government document and then connect the dots by falsifying the rest."

Jackson took the turn to talk. "They've been identified as associates of the Oroshi-clan, a smaller scale operation in the greater Tokyo area. They have their muscle more up in the North and around the coastal outskirts of Honshu. Our one dead body from the dock really was a nobody and we didn't have an association to pin him on. But I think those men were chosen for that exact reason, in case they got caught."

"That's great," Ranma said. He smacked his knee and pointed to the screen. "Now we have a strong lead on who to start tailing and what to bust."

"That's not it though," Jackson said, wagging his finger. His feet tapped excitedly as he started punching some keys on the computer. A new set of data popped up.

"Your three acquaintances you told me to look up. Well, I checked them," Jackson continued. "Nabiki Tendo, Akari Unryuu, and Ukyou Kuonji."

"What is it?" Ranma lifted a finger to his mouth, and he bit into it lightly.

"I don't know what you were trying to look up with these three, but two of them have some sort of financial connection with each other. Nabiki Tendo has no financial dealings with either of them, but the other two received large loans from a private lender in the area. Unryuu defaulted and her property was repossessed, Kuonji managed to pay off her debt several years ago despite borrowing a very impressive sum of money."

"What are you getting at? I just wanted to find out who Nabiki had dealt with when Akari was screwed over," Ranma said anxiously.

"That two-bit banker is a young guy, our age and a legitimate man in his area. But he's listed as a known associate of the Oroshi clan," Jackson replied.

"And if what you said last night was true," Takayama spoke. "Then Nabiki Tendo knows who this man is, and has dealt with him before. That's Director of Finances, of an internal bureau of the Japanese Defense Agency, Tendo."

Ranma interlaced his hands together and lifted them up to cover his mouth. His index finger pointed to both Jackson and Takayama. "What's the connection?"

"This is hard to swallow, and this is thin," Takayama said.

"Real fucking thin," Jackson added.

"But it's the closest thing we got." Takayama walked over and sat next to Ranma. "Nabiki Tendo works in a high level and sensitive position with the right access and privileged channels to, say, setup a weapons deal for leftover surplus arms or mislabeling and misleading contracted government weapons. The same could be said about accessing coordinates for Maritime JDSF forces and times tables for roving patrols. The JDA handles all domestic defense issues and as the comptroller she has access to everyone's budgets."

"Kurosawa's in Okinawa right now interrogating our friends from the PT boat at the dock. Depending on how much he extracts out of them, we'll be able to know just to what extent their prior intel was when they made their deliveries." Jackson pulled out the list of scribbled names Ranma had given him last night. "When you gave me the names of these girls, we just may have accidentally discovered who our inside mole was."

"No." Ranma calmly shook his head, eyes closed. He smacked his lips before speaking again. "Nabiki has always been a shrewd bitch since we were kids, but she wouldn't do something like this."

"I know it's hard to swallow for you personally, but in this business we can't handle coincidences lightly," Jackson said.

"Yeah, but this coincidence is just that. It's too farfetched," Ranma stubbornly replied.

"Get your personal biases out of the way and think straight for a moment, damn it," Takayama spat. "Whether she did it or not, ask yourself. Is she capable of this? And what the hell do you really know anyhow?"

The back of Ranma's hairs rose, and he felt a twitch of uncontrolled ki spark through parts of his tense muscles. "I just never thought Nabiki would manage to get in to trouble with earning money, of all things. Her of all people, she knows how to watch herself."

"Such is life," Takayama said. He frowned and his nose twitched. "Have you been drinking, Saotome?"

Ranma got up from his seat and stopped at the door. "It's none of your concern, sir."

Takayama shot up from his seat and stomped the floor. "Damn right it is. It's not even noon yet and you're getting liquored up? Get your fucking head on straight. At least stay on board with the team here."

Jackson stood silently as he watched the exchange. He saw Ranma silently fuming in shame.

The weight of the world made a heavy impression on Ranma's shoulders. He tried to gulp, and found his throat was bone dry. "I'll check it out on my own. I need to talk to some more people."

With a slight bow, Ranma exited the room and left behind the morose atmosphere. Takayama sighed, his lips narrowed and a glint of disappointment hanging in his eye. Jackson also let a frustrated breath, worried for the conflicted welfare of his partner.

"Jackson, I want you to recon Nabiki Tendo right away." Takayama looked up at him. "What can you set up?"

"I'll borrow some surveillance equipment upstairs and tail her with a kei-car* around the city if I need. I'll be on her like white on rice. No one's better at this than I am."

*Super subcompact vehicle. Popular in Japan, very discreet.

Takayama looked at the door where Ranma had just left. "Go, now. Make it happen."

***

April 28th, 2001.

Mukajima Auto Shop – Sumida, Tokyo. 12:49 PM.

Masa Hirotaki tossed his friend another stack of bills in cold hard cash. It was the least he could offer for the amount of business his friend was losing to help keep the place closed for him and his men to use as a safe house.

He watched as the men made themselves comfortable in the large and lofty body shop, their go to place for chopping up and storing stolen cars. Masa refueled himself with several more bumps of coke up his dome as his emotions struggled to balance his fear of screwing up with his syndicate and the loss of his best friend. Last night's screw up was something he never even thought possible. It was the declaration of his own death warrant within the Oroshi-clan.

Thank god the boys were smart enough to move all the weapons with them, Masa thought. They had all taken the liberty of arming themselves, shoulder straps slung with rifles that none of them knew how to efficiently wield. Firearms he himself hadn't wielded properly last night, and it had cost him dearly.

For now, all there could be done was to wait. Today was a day to lie and rest.

***

April 28th, 2001.

Saotome Residence – Juuban District, Tokyo. 1:00 AM.

It wasn't very bright of him to come see his mother after sipping a pint of whiskey all by himself. Even worse was walking in with another, bigger bottle of Jack Daniels. But of all the people around right now, Ranma felt his mother was the only one who wouldn't kick him away.

His mom had asked him what the matter was, but Ranma nonchalantly waved it off and told her everything was fine. As a mother, she was naturally worried her son was drinking early in the day and worsening his already tired condition by consuming more.

Nodoka looked him over carefully, and wondered how to approach her alcoholic son. It only took one look to guess, it came from years of experience of seeing it and hearing it from the people she shopped groceries from and exchanged conversations with out in the neighborhood.

"Mom, where's Pops?" Ranma said from the couch.

"He's with Mr. Tendo to chase and appease Happosai in some neighboring town," she replied. "They won't be back till this evening, I believe."

"Mmm." Ranma swigged from his fifth* of Jack and stared into the TV in the living room with bloodshot eyes. He wasn't paying attention to whatever show was on. He saw his mother walking towards him.

*Fifth – A 750ml bottle for you metric-fags.

"Sit up, Ranma," Nodoka gently said. She took a seat next to him. "Tell me what's wrong."

"Nothing's wrong, mom. Just had a rough week, and wanted to have a drink."

She raised a brow at the bottle he kept taking tiny sips from. "Drinking in the middle of the day is something I used to see your father, soun, and the perverted old master do together. But watching you drink alone, like that. How can I just leave you alone?"

Ranma tried to shut her voice out, and failed miserably. He had no idea why he'd come here in the first place. He tried to lie back down, and rested his head on his mother's lap. "Mom, can I take a nap? I'm exhausted."

Nodoka's forehead crinkled with worry. She smoothed her hand over her son's hair. She couldn't remember the last time she had done that for him. "Of course, son."

------------------

The cacophony of ringing bells and whistles made Ranma tumble off the sofa and onto the ground, knocking over his bottle that he had left. He instinctively reached for the bottle first as it rolled away before he pulled out and answered his phone. "Hello?"

"It's Kurosawa, I'm calling from Okinawa."

Ranma yawned and wiped his stinging eyes clear of crusted mucus. "Shit, what time is it?"

"What time is it? What the fuck have you been doing, sleeping?" Kurosawa asked incredulously. "It's half past four."

Ranma moaned as he looked up and saw the clock on the wall. It read 4:35. "Goddamn. What's up?"

"I struck a deal with these pirates in exchange for their release. This whole thing was one really odd shit-bird," Kurosawa said. "There's someone of great interest who didn't exactly want these guys put away in jail, so there was some creative negotiating taking place."

"I have no idea what you're talking about," Ranma slurred. His head started pounding. He reached for the hair of the dog that bit him.

"Someone from CIA in Thailand claims this ship crew is an asset of note, and claimed we can't force them into our investigation. The ship is some two bit pirate courier called the Black Lagoon."

Ranma's lips made a pop as he removed the tip of the bottle from his mouth. "What does that mean, an asset of note?"

"In spook talk, an asset of note means it's not quite untouchable, but it isn't quite expendable either."

"So what'd you do about it?"

"I handled it." Kurosawa chuckled shrewdly. "The request was made by some low-rung NOC* operative. I reeled it in to our favor with my leverage."

*Non-Official Cover.

Ranma rubbed his forehead, wondering what kind of leverage Kurosawa had. "Good job, I guess."

"We got four suspects. One's a deserted Marine, he owns the boat. There's a Japanese national, this faggot was wearing a dirty white dress shirt and slacks when we brought him in. Third person is a wanted man in the US and a kike from Florida. Supposedly he's the electronics expert on board. Finally, there's that feisty little trick that you shot on the harbor. Chinese American, your age, and a jacket file of crimes committed that's probably as stank as her fucking cunt. Only thing hotter than this bitch's temper is her sleeved up tattoos."

Ranma smirked. "What was the deal you struck?"

"Psh! It was beautiful. I think they were counting on the fact that their friend in Thailand was going to bail them out, scot free. These guys are real pros, they never expected to be tracked or caught under any circumstance. When they realized I was going to fuck them over and gave them a chance to get away in return for their route blueprints, they gave in."

"That simple?" Ranma was surprised.

"Like I said, they never dreamed they were going to be caught the way they were. They didn't know the connections I'm dealing with." Kurosawa was smiling on the other end.

"Bravo."

"Thank you. I heard from Takayama you've accidentally landed yourself on a hot plate."

Ranma grit his teeth. "I don't want to talk about it."

"I think I have to agree with both the Commander and Jackson, Ranma." Kurosawa clucked his tongue. "These pirates told us what we needed except for how they got paid. That one turned out to be a dead end. But they were given just about everything you would need to infiltrate the country by sea without getting caught."

"There's no proof that it's Nabiki," Ranma replied. "This is all speculation."

"We're gathering the proof right now. I bet you it's only a matter of time," Kurosawa sighed.

Ranma bit his lip. "Keep me posted, I'm out."

***

April 28th, 2001.

Japanese Defense Agency HQ – Tokyo, Japan. 5:02 PM.

Jackson started walking again slowly as he saw his target leaving the JDA building. She was an easy one to tail, but it did no good for him if he couldn't gather any hard evidence against her.

The last few hours of Jackson's time was spent stalking and surveilling the attractive Nabiki Tendo. She was a girl he had no problem spotting as she resembled the familiar face of Akane Hibiki, whom he'd met with Ranma. She had come out of her apartment home in upscale Roppongi Hills and came straight to the JDA building, where her office was located. Jackson had been forced to inform Takayama that he was unable to stick around in her sight as her office was a high-security area with strong electronic countermeasures to thwart unauthorized individuals. She made few phone calls on her private cell phone, and the few he'd eavesdropped on were conversations between her and her family.

And there had been no way to tap her office phone either, as it was a built in security measure that the JNSA had thought of. Any calls monitored from high level and sensitive positions could not be covertly tapped without alerting the parties involved. It was a double entendre measure that was never intended for domestic spy fare.

Even though he was taller than most, average Japanese men, Jackson was an expert in blending in. His skills as a counter-terrorist operator included urban intelligence and reconnaissance expertise, disappearing in plain view was an instinctive function.

He watched as Nabiki Tendo got into a taxi-cab at the curb. Looking at the heavy mid afternoon traffic, he was confident he would have enough time to get to his own car and trail her.

------------------

Nabiki shifted in her seat as she sat through the slogging Tokyo traffic. Despite expensive fares and the slower commute, Nabiki didn't mind riding in them. Her employer picked up the bill for any transportation fees.

She felt her purse vibrate. She pulled out her cell phone and looked at the closed flip screen. It was an unknown number.

"Hmph." She silenced the rumble and waited for the call to go to voicemail. She didn't feel like picking it up, despite a hunch on who it was.

After the call ended, Nabiki flipped open her phone and dialed her family home. Akane picked up after a few rings.

"Hello?"

"Akane? It's Nabiki. What are you doing right now?"

"Oh, hey! I'm about to make dinner. Kasumi and Tofu came over, and she's going to give me a cooking lesson in the kitchen."

"Who's home right now?"

"It's just us and Ryoga. Father went out for a town meeting and won't be back till late."

"Do you mind if I come over? I'll be there in a while."

"Oh, sure. I'll setup a place for you at the table."

"Thanks, Akane." Nabiki hung up the phone. She tapped on the taxi driver's shoulder rest. "To Nerima, please."

***

April 28th, 2001.

Nekohanten Café. Nerima, Tokyo. 5:15 PM.

Shampoo closed up the windows as she saw the sky haze up with dark clouds. There hadn't been any reports of showers or rain in the news. She wondered for a second if Mousse was going to be alright as he was still going to be in class for the rest of the evening, but it was more likely he would splash himself by tripping in a puddle than getting hit by rain. For all she knew he had a dozen umbrellas in different colors hidden under his clothes.

She turned around and focused her attention on the surprise guest she had bumped into while coming back from school herself.

Ranma sat on the barstool, leaned over an unfamiliar counter that had been renovated into the restaurant since he was a teenager. The Nekohanten bar had been put in place to attract a bigger group of customers. He sat directly behind the beer taps, nursing his little shot glass full of distilled Chinese baijiu, a foul smelling white liquor that tasted like gasoline. His mother had taken away and discarded his bottle of Jack and gently told him to sober up and get back to work. His current location was just another excuse to be distracted for a little longer.

Shampoo excused the Amazon girl who had been tending the bar and took over herself. She regarded Ranma warily as this was a side of him she didn't know nor she knew how to approach. When he had offered a ride for her while walking out in the streets, she had been shocked to find him reeking of alcohol and driving.

"What's wrong, something bad happen to you?" Shampoo asked. She cleaned a wine glass that was in the sink.

"Just having one of my days, Shampoo." Ranma cradled his head in his hand. He was too drunk to make sense of the fact that he was drinking recklessly in front of an old friend.

"I'm here to listen if you have anything you want to say," she replied.

Shampoo brushed her hair aside and looked down at the sink. A part of her remembered younger, more carefree days. It was urging her to play and banter with Ranma. The girl she was now was more level headed and reserved.

"Have a drink with me, then," Ranma offered. He motioned his cup and lifted it for a toast. "I could use someone to match shots with."

Shampoo frowned. "Hibachan left me to watch the restaurant while she's gone. I can't do that."

Ranma shrugged. "Fine then."

The Amazon worker that Shampoo dismissed returned from the kitchen area and came by her side to help clean up. The other two Amazon girls in the restaurant were handling the cooking and the waiting. Shampoo looked at Ranma and bit the inside of her cheek.

"Ok, fine," she said. Shampoo went around to sit next to him, her own shot glass in hand. Maybe he'll open up, she thought.

----------------------

Ranma munched on a fried pot sticker and clumsily tried to grab another one with his chopsticks. His vision was starting to blur, and even his stout drinking constitution had to take a bow to 100-proof Chinese liquor. He looked to his side at the purple haired Amazon he'd known for close to a decade. As hammered as he was, he felt guilty for asking her to keep him company.

She wasn't a strong drinker, and halfheartedly sipped on her drink as Ranma poured multiple of his own. She became more reluctant still, shrinking in on herself and looking nothing like the headstrong warrior Ranma remembered.

"This wasn't the way I envisioned spending time with you if you ever came back," Shampoo said. She developed a mild case of the hiccups, a side effect of her weak tolerance.

Ranma cursed and thanked the numbing powers of alcohol. He didn't expect to come here to feel worse, either. He learned that years of Shampoo pining over him with nothing to show for it and her own feelings unanswered for had left her awkward with other men. To make it worse, the years had made her confidence erode.

He sipped some more from his cup, despite losing all sensation in his face by now. "Why didn't you just hook up with Mousse? I can't imagine the man having given up on you."

Shampoo digressed, her bangs matting onto her forehead as she shook her head. "No. It's too weird. He's not the right man."

Ranma scowled in disdain. "There is no right man or wrong man. Everyone has to settle down. I heard from Ucchan you're still a virgin, even."

A look of stunned shock colored Shampoo's features as she glared at Ranma, slack jawed. She picked up what was left in her cup and splashed it on his face. It wasn't enough to trigger his curse.

Ranma coughed and groaned as the liquor stung his eyes like fire and the strong fumes invaded his nostrils. He cracked his inflamed eyes open to see Shampoo looking away from him and at the bar, tears in her eyes.

He sobered up a little in the head, realizing what he'd just said. "I'm sorry, Shampoo. I didn't mean to say it like that."

Shampoo's eyes darted to the side and she looked at him with hate. She focused back to the front, her lips were murmuring and trying to form words. "You prick fuck."

Ranma took a deep breath and hung his head. He stared at his reflection on some spilled liquid on the black counter. "I deserve that."

She reached over and grabbed his hand, squeezing it for a moment and then letting it go. She covered her face with her hand and leaned on the bar with her elbow. "I can't hate you, Ranma. I could never hate you."

Both of them sat in silence. Neither looked at each other and wallowed in the void.

"Goddamn Nabiki," Ranma suddenly muttered.

Shampoo's head slowly lifted up. "Nabiki? Nabiki Tendo? Mercenary girl?"

Ranma smiled ruefully. "Yeah, her."

"What about her?"

"She's causing all sorts of damn trouble with money," Ranma said.

"Oh, that's just like her," Shampoo said. Her speech was slightly slurred. "She came here a few years ago and offered to help us expand her restaurant. But Hibachan told her no."

Ranma's eyes perked. "She did? She did the same for Ucchan, I hear. And to Akari Unryuu, Ryoga's old girlfriend."

"Ukyou?" Shampoo let out a chuckle. "Nabiki introduced Ukyou to the banker who gave her the loan and they started going out. They were good friends from before. He was her boyfriend for a while, I remember."

Ranma dropped his shot glass as it reached his lips. "What?"

"Yeah, they even came by here a few times. Really slick, expensive looking man."

The gears in Ranma's head started to turn. He vaguely remembered through drunk connection that Ucchan had told him that Nabiki introduced her last boyfriend to her.

"Are you sure, Shampoo?" He had to ask again. It was too incredible. "The banker was Nabiki's friend? He went out with Ucchan?"

Shampoo looked uneasy by Ranma's sudden change in behavior. "Yes, I'm sure."

That was it. The proof had been there all along. It was enough to smack him right in the face and back to reality. He got up from his seat and pulled out some money to leave on the counter. He looked at Shampoo's startled face and lifted his hand to caress her cheek with his thumb. He pulled her in for a tight hug.

"I'm sorry, Shampoo. I have to leave right away. Thank you," he said.

Shampoo hugged back weakly, overwhelmed by the sudden show of affection. She rubbed her cheek with her hand as Ranma ran out the door.

***

April 28th, 2001.

Tendo Home – Nerima, Tokyo. 6:47 PM.

The cloudy weather delivered a slightly chilled breeze across Nabiki's hair as she lit her cigarette in the front yard. She sighed in content to the nice home made meal she just finished, her favorite cure for life's anxieties. Home with your family was where you were most comfortable, no matter how rich or powerful you were.

She heard her cell phone ring from her purse on the edge of the patio. She concealed her cigarette behind her palm in case Kasumi and Tofu came out from the kitchen.

The phone display showed an unknown caller. Grimacing, she decided to pick it up this time.

---------------------

Jackson sat in his car around the block from the Tendo home and listened to his frequency scanner. Connected to his mobile computer, it locked onto a signal from Nabiki's cell phone. He listened in.

"Hello, this is Tendo."

"Nabiki."

"Itoh-san." Nabiki sighed and paused before answering again. "What can I do for you."

"I'll cut straight to it. I'll give you a second chance."

"Second chance?"

"Deliver the rest of what was promised and everything will be fine."

Nabiki huffed through the phone. "No can do. We already talked about this. I'm not changing my mind."

"I don't have the time or patience to argue this with you over the phone. I'm doing this out of kindness since you're not exactly a stranger, Tendo. Deliver, or else."

"Or else what? Don't play games with me, Itoh," Nabiki said angrily.

"Don't do something you're going to regret. This is your last chance."

"And that was yours. Goodbye, Itoh."

Jackson heard the phone call end and he checked his laptop to see if it recorded the conversation. He started working right away to trace the other caller by transmitting the data to JNSA HQ.

***

April 28th, 2001.

Sakuragi Investments – Nerima, Tokyo. 6:50 PM.

Kei Sakuragi wanted to slam the phone down. He gravely regretted telling his Aniki that his ex-girlfriend had come to visit him. He nervously glanced over to the other room, where she was sitting in his private office.

"Please, Itoh-aniki," Sakuragi hissed. "There's no need to hurt her!"

Itoh was in no mood to take any backtalk from anybody at the moment. "You keep her there, and you wait like I said otherwise I'm going to kill you too. And your parents and your sister."

Sakuragi clutched his dress shirt to his chest, breathing hard. "No, please. Not that," he pleaded.

------------------

Ukyou Kuonji sighed as she heard Kei in the other room arguing on the phone. She looked around in the office and wondered just what the hell had possessed her to call him just so they could "talk". She glanced outside and looked up at the dark clouds. They looked ready to rain.

From the horizon and just above the rooftops she saw a figure jumping across the rooftops and towards her direction. She squinted to see who it was, as few in Nerima were capable of such.

"Ranma?" Ukyou got up to run out the door.

------------------

Ranma jumped from the rooftops with his phone to his ear, listening for further instructions from Takayama for directions to his target.

"Sakuragi Investments, it should be right ahead. 200 meters," Takayama said from the phone.

"Thanks!" Ranma pocketed his cell phone and hopped on a roof tile, nearly tripping from his inebriated state.

He heard a car screeching its tires from behind in the narrow streets below. A quick glance revealed it was a black sedan, recklessly barreling towards the same direction he was heading.

A sign that said "Sakuragi Investments" appeared in Ranma's sights, and he saw the door opening with a girl coming out. He blinked as he wondered why she looked so familiar.

The girl yelled as Ranma came closer. "Ranchan? Is that you!?"

Ranma tripped and fell. He grabbed onto the ledge of a rooftop and rolled himself back up to his feet. "Ucchan?" he yelled back.

The same black car from before screeched to a halt before making a left turn at the corner where Ukyou was. From Ranma's point of view, he saw Ukyou's eyes widen and saw her duck to the side as the car accelerated violently again while passing the building.

Ranma's ears fell deaf when he heard and saw a loud muzzle flash come out of the window as it passed Ukyou. It had the unmistakable booming thud of a shotgun round. He saw her tumble to the ground like a rag doll as she clutched her stomach. His eyes locked onto the car as it tried to make its getaway.

"Ucchan!"

Making a dive off the roof and onto the street, Ranma somersaulted and landed on his feet. His right hand rocked back his 1911 pistol from his holster and he started shooting before he even had the sights in his eye's aim. The rounds pounded through the back windows, shattering them, but the car continued to drive away.

Ranma lifted his arms and pointed his palms at the car. "Shi-shi-hokodan!"

A heavy collection of ki shot out of Ranma's hand in a dull yellow ball and exploded on the back of the car, flipping it over. The shockwave blast ricocheted from the surrounding walls and pounded back like a vacuum on the steel frame of the car, crushing it and killing the men inside.

Sakuragi ran out from the building and yelped in horror when he saw Ukyou's crawling body on the ground. Her shirt was tattered at the right half of her stomach and slowly seeping with blood.

Ranma swiveled around and saw Sakuragi picking up Ukyou's body, wondering who this man was. In the heat of the moment, he nearly forgot what he came here for. He shoved him away and grabbed Ukyou's body himself. The other man was knocked over on the ground from the violent push.

"You! Call a fucking ambulance right now!" Ranma yelled.

Sakuragi crawled backwards from his position on the ground and complied. He went straight for the phone in his office.

***

April 28th, 2001.

Tendo Home – Nerima, Tokyo. 6:51 PM.

All five men surrounded the yard, each with a weapon pointed at a victim.

The blonde Eurasian among them had a revolver in his hand, whereas the others were holding rifles. Mr. Joshua took a good hard look at Nabiki, and then the others.

Ryoga stood at the sliding doorway of the patio and grit his teeth and fists. His left hand slowly slipped a couple of bandannas into the other, ready to slice these intruders in half. He looked around one last time to see where the others were. His wife was standing several yards from him on the grass. Nabiki was next to Kasumi, standing closer to the dojo. Tofu was by himself, directly in front of the blonde gunman.

"Let's make this as easy as possible, shall we?" Mr. Joshua announced to them.

Nabiki screamed at him. "What the hell do you think you're doing! Let us go!"

Mr. Joshua had his gun trained on Tofu, who had his hands above his waist. His eyes darted between the man and the bandanna and the man in glasses in front of him. Both of them felt like aggressive hostiles.

Without warning, he squeezed off two shots of .38 Special into Tofu's sternum. With a sharp breath, Tofu fell back and crumpled like a puppet with its strings cut. His eyes were still open as his head hit the floor, knocking his glasses off him.

Kasumi shrieked.

Ryoga dropped his bandannas, frozen in fear.

Akane stepped back and didn't feel her legs give out from under her.

Nabiki stared.

As soon as he saw his victim hit the deck, Mr. Joshua aimed at Kasumi's head next. His thumb cocked back the hammer. "Any of you move, she dies. Do you get me?"

The three Tendo sisters and one Hibiki stood perfectly still as each of them awaited a captor with a rag doused in chloroform.

-------------------

Jackson banged his head against the window when he heard the gunshots from over the wall. He hastily threw his surveillance headphones off and scrambled to the rear hatch of his tiny car.

He jumped out and hugged the wall of the Tendo residence, his MP5SD in low-ready position and cocked for fire. He heard several shouts and shuffling from behind the perimeter and cautiously approached the front gate.

Jackson cursed himself for parking far away. He hadn't seen the van full of armed gunmen pulling up to the entrance. He made it around the corner, just in time to see a girl bound up in ropes being tossed into the sliding door of a cargo van and a lone man with an M4 carbine slung off his chest.

"Stop!" Jackson yelled.

The man reached for his rifle and tried to take aim. He was quickly taken down by a camera-shutter fast double tap to his chest along with a round delivered through his nose. The van's door slammed shut and the tires screeched as it sped away. Jackson didn't take any more shots, he was afraid of who he might hit inside.

With his MP5SD still raised, Jackson ran up to the person he'd just fired at and confirmed the man was dead. His nasal cavity was shredded with the flesh punched in like a petal of ground beef. The blood from his head was already liberally soaking and spreading across the pavement.

Jackson ran inside the gates of the Tendo complex and quickly scanned the area with his submachine gun sights. He ran up to a prone body that was lying close to a pond, dressed in a dark gi. He checked the man for his pulse.

"Shit," Jackson growled.

He looked at the house and wondered for a split second if there was anyone else in there but decided against it. He ran back to his car, weapon clicked on safety. The van was getting away.

***

April 28th, 2001.

Sakuragi Investments – Nerima, Tokyo. 7:08 PM.

Ranma wiped away his streaming tears as the paramedics folded in Ukyou's stretcher into the ambulance. A growing crowd of police officers were forming behind him, more interested in the obliterated sedan down the street than the victim of the scene.

His cell phone rang with a special tone that let Ranma know that it was an emergency call. He sniffled his nose as he picked up.

"What is it?" Ranma yelled.

"Captain! This is Jackson!"

Ranma was about to climb into the ambulance to ride to the hospital with Ukyou when he heard Jackson blurt into his ear what just happened. He stood still as Jackson quickly explained what he had been doing all day and what had just happened.

His pigtail bristled as he talked on the phone. Ranma was livid. "Where the hell are you?"

"I'm in pursuit of the van, heading towards the inner city! I've left my beacon on so you can follow me in your car!"

"Shit!" Ranma held off his phone and hopped into the ambulance and looked down at Ukyou's eyes. Her eyes were half open and her oxygen mask fogged up and cleared as she breathed laboriously. "I'm sorry Ucchan, I gotta go. I'll come back for you." He brushed her hair and lifted up her hand, kissing it.

------------------

Ranma slapped himself to focus harder as he drove through the crowded Shinjuku streets, the wailing siren of his Mitsubishi was loud enough to split his head open. The blinking beacon on his LCD navigation screen signaled Jackson's location only a few more kilometers away. It had stopped moving long ago since Ranma's started his own pursuit.

A conference call on the car's speakerphone had brought up Takayama and Kurosawa up to date as Ranma explained what had happened with Jackson and himself. Kurosawa was of no help and was still in Okinawa while Takayama had managed a clean-up crew to lock down the Tendo dojo. Ranma had trouble thinking straight through all the excitement happening around him at one time and he found himself barely biting back panic. The slow drizzle from the overcast skies forced him to turn on the windshield wipers.

He pressed the push-to-talk button for a direct radio line on Jackson's phone. There was no response. There hadn't been any contact with him for the past few minutes, in fact.

The beacon to Jackson's position brought Ranma to an alleyway behind a large nightclub. He saw a small car, a little Subaru R2, hastily parked next to a dumpster. The windows were shattered.

He parked his car further away and got out in the rain. Feeling the transformation take place, Ranma made her way to the wagon hatch and pulled out her G36K rifle and switched pistols for her Washu modded Beretta 92FS. She attached the suppressor to the muzzle and racked back the charging handle. She set the safety catch to semi-auto.

Ranma carried the rifle over her neck in a sling and made her way deeper into the alley. She looked up and down carefully at the tall brick sides of the adjacent buildings. Her senses weren't as keen they should've been, as her veins were still coursing with a strong concentration of alcohol.

The alleyway led to a single door on the side of the nightclub, recessed under a concrete flight of stairs leading down. Ranma slowly walked down, trigger finger straight and ready. The door was locked at the handle and was easily forced with her powerful grip. The metal hinge creaked and protested under the torque and finally gave way, bending to fatigue.

The door opened up to an unlit room, much to dark to make anything out. Ranma flipped on the switch for the rifle's night vision module, and used it as a viewfinder. The lack of ambient light as she stepped away from the outside door made the view grainy and difficult through the scope, but it was enough to show the room was empty. The next door was unlocked and Ranma crouched as she slowly opened it, peeking through the crack first.

Another set of stairs were revealed, steel grated and lit with a single light bulb to an open corridor. Ranma stepped down slowly, ears alert for any noises as she approached. The corridor was a path to steel grated walkway in narrow passage of water pipes. It was clear that no one was around. Ranma jumped down and avoided yet another set of stairs, opting to take a shortcut. There were several doors this time, steel hatches with glass windows at eye level. She gasped as she looked through the first one.

Akane and Nabiki on some chairs placed side by side to each other. Their hands were tied behind their backs and their faces were red and swollen. The view was obscured by several large boxes and an assorted mess of leaking steam pipes. Ranma grit her teeth and opened the door, slipping her presence away in the best Umisen-ken trance she could muster through her foggy brain. Adrenaline wasn't enough to cut it.

Ranma heard the loud whelps and cries of several girls, and angry protesting of a man whose voice she recognized. Carefully sidestepping her way and making around some boxes, Ranma had a clearer view. Kasumi and Ryoga had been captured and brought here too. Ryoga in particular looked like he was convulsing and twitching, his eyes half closed.

The clunky rattle of a gun froze Ranma as she felt a barrel pressed behind her ear. She dropped hold of her rifle and let it hang on the sling. Hands raised, she turned her head to see a scruffy man who had somehow managed to spot her.

Ranma's hand snatched back and grabbed the man's shooting hand by the wrist and twisted it to release his finger from the trigger. In the same motion her feet swept him from underneath him and caused him to fall, knocking over a box as the back of his head smacked the cold ground. Ranma's hand lifted up and smashed down for a killing blow, caving down on his chest with a sickly crunch.

Shouts of alert traded off in the large boiler room. Ranma slid across the floor to get a clear view of the room and raised her rifle to shoot anyone she could. To her surprise, no one was out in the open and she spotted four men hiding behind their own sufficient cover, their own weapons raised in defense. One of them hid behind Kasumi with the barrel of a revolver stuck forcefully in her mouth.

"Drop your fucking gun!" Mr. Joshua yelled, his blonde head peeking up next to Kasumi's terrifed face. "I've pulled the trigger and I'm holding the hammer with my thumb. You kill me, she dies! Got it?"

Ranma felt her blood run cold. She didn't hear the pained cries of her name from her friends under captive. All she saw were four enemies, all with the upper hand. She lifted her rifle sling off her neck and dropped it on the ground.

"Get your hands up," Mr. Joshua said. His face remained stern, and he kept his eyes on Ranma's eyes. Girl or not, he wasn't about to take chances.

Ryoga was trying hard to keep his head straight, as it kept lolling around. "Ranma! What the hell is wrong with you! Why'd you surrender?"

Akane, Nabiki, and Kasumi were collectively babbling in tears.

"Let them go! What do you need them for," Ranma bellowed.

Mr. Joshua eased his trigger finger and rested the hammer back down into double action. He regarded this attractive pigtailed women carefully and then pointed his gun at Nabiki. "This doesn't concern you. This is business. I don't know who the hell you are, but you must have followed that tall boyfriend of yours here, didn't you?"

Ranma's eyes widened in horror, she had forgotten about Jackson. "Where is he? What did you do with him?"

"He's in interrogation. As will you be. Now surrender quietly to my men here, and no one's going to have to hurt more than they need to," Mr. Joshua said. He looked at one of his men that had just been killed. His mouth was oozing out blood. "You're no ordinary bitch. No funny moves."

The other men in the room hesitantly approached Ranma as she had her arms raised high. She turned around as they came up to subdue her.

When the first man put a hand on her shoulder to cuff her arms behind her back Ranma spun around with a roundhouse kick to his neck. The force was powerful enough to launch him off his feet and break his neck from the impact and further shattering his skull as it impacted the wall. Her right hand shot out to rip out the next guy's heart right out of his chest when she was stopped by the sudden pop of a gunshot in the room.

The momentary lapse of hesitation was enough for the other men to knock Ranma down, and she looked over to see Mr. Joshua with a smoking revolver in his hand and a gunshot wound in Kasumi's right shoulder. She was catatonic with shock.

"Noooooo!" Ranma screamed.

Mr. Joshua forcefully nuzzled the hot barrel against Kasumi's temple and screamed back, outraged. "I told you not to try anything! Next one I'm going to blow her brains out! Is that what you want?" He walked over and whipped Akane and Nabiki hard, cracking them with the butt of the revolver.

Ranma started blubbering incomprehensibly. She struggled as the men tried to chloroform her, trying to knock her out. Ranma head butted the one with the rag away, and continued to yell at the ringleader of the room.

"I'll do what you want," Ranma said in between choking sobs. "Just don't hurt them. Please, just let the me go."

"Then sit still and take it," Mr. Joshua said. He motioned for his men to continue with the chloroform rag.

Ranma saw differing shades of red pervert her vision as she felt the noxious chemicals slip her into unconsciousness.

-------------

Ranma woke up to a blinding cramp embodying her entire length in a jolt of pain. She looked up and saw her hands tied to a pipe with cold water running down her head. She looked down and saw she was nearly naked, dress only to her boxers from her male form. In front of her were two of her captives, the blonde haired man and one of his lackeys from the other room. Neither had focused on the fact that she was an attractively nude woman.

"I hate to do this to such a pretty girl, but my employer's organization has to be comprehensive when it comes to the survival of their welfare and my paycheck," Mr. Joshua said.

Ranma looked around and saw it was the room right before the one she had been caught in. Her clothes were strewn and thrown on the other end of the wall. Next to the blonde man's lackey was a dolly loaded with a portable generator connected to a car battery with two jumper cables attached to some bath sponges. The sight of them made Ranma's skin crawl.

"Who the hell are you?" Ranma asked.

Mr. Joshua grabbed Ranma's jaw and looked her in the eye. "That's hardly important. What we need to know about you, is," he said, carefully pausing between words for emphasis. "But if it matters you may call me Mr. Joshua."

"Mr. Joshua." Ranma looked up and saw her hands tied in thick rope and hung like a Christmas decoration on a hooked indent on the running water pipe. Her body felt weak, the combination of the chloroform and her drunken state did not bode well for her strength. "What the hell do you want from me?"

Mr. Joshua smiled. He walked back and forth. "You're not a cop, and with the weapons we found on you I can hardly believe you're anything but normal. JNSA does law enforcement, it seems?"

"What's your point?" Ranma saw her empty holster on her pants. The lackey had her stainless Beretta tucked into his front belt.

"Ms. Tendo is our business, and we were hoping to keep it that way," Mr. Joshua said. "It's clear and obvious that you know each other and that somehow you and your partner followed us here. I saw the way you fought, and I saw the way your partner took out one of my boys. To top it off, you smell like a goddamn liquored hooch."

Ranma sucked back on her throat and spat on Mr. Joshua's face with a splash of cold water flung from her hair. "And who the hell are you? Some half-Asian pretty boy they hired to suck dick?"

Mr. Joshua wiped away his face with a laugh. He turned back for a moment and swung around with a full powered punch driven with his hips to Ranma's stomach. To her surprise, it was devastatingly strong. She almost felt the contents of her stomach come up.

"I'm South African." He smiled, and pulled up his sleeve to reveal a small tattoo of a golden sword surrounded by two ears of wheat on his shoulder. "I was with the 'Recces', part of the 5th Special Forces Regiment in Phalaborwa. Stuck around until the fall of Apartheid ruined my country."

Ranma frowned. "You're a mercenary?"

"I prefer 'Professional Soldier', Mr. Ranma Saotome," Mr. Joshua said. He held up Ranma's badge wallet and ID. "Funny, it says here you're a male and it shows a male look-a-like of you, but obviously you're female? Care to share?"

Ranma looked at him warily, shaking her head. "You got me, Jack. We're all tied up and followed you to a dead end."

Mr. Joshua looked down at his shoes and clucked his tongue. "See, I believe in being thorough. You tell me everything now, and I promise I'll kill you quick." He snapped his finger for emphasis.

"I don't have anything to say to you, I'm just hanging here," Ranma replied.

"Well we'll just see, won't we." Mr. Joshua stood with his hands at his sides, nodding with his crooked smile. "Well, Ranma. I'd like you to meet Endo, then. I don't believe you've been acquainted with him yet."

Ranma looked at the lackey with a name. She saw him put on a pair of heavy duty rubber glove and grab the jumper cables. "What the hell is that?"

Mr. Joshua raised a hand, motioning for Endo to pause. "Endo here knows more about dispensing pain and discomfort than you and I will ever know. He's got this toy here that had quite a reputation in the Japanese underworld, I hear."

Endo cranked up a knob on the dolly's powerpack, causing it audibly buzz and crackle. He smiled as he spoke, "High voltage electricity tuned to fry your muscles without burning your skin. How do you think we woke you up?"

The color in Ranma's face started to drain away. She didn't like where this was headed. "Get that away from me."

Mr. Joshua stepped to the side and pushed Ranma into the electric sponges. Her body rippled in convulsions.

Ranma recoiled back, splashing water everywhere as she struggled. Her body still wasn't strong enough to break free. "I'm going to fucking kill the both of you!"

"Hit her again!" Mr. Joshua yelled.

--------------

Nabiki prayed to god over and over as she sat in her chair, legs shaking as she stared at the small collection of teardrops right below her eyes.

Akane continued to sob as she cradled her head against Kasumi's. The elder sister had still been in shock, the pain from her shoulder wound and the memory of her husband's murder still fresh in her mind threatening to rip her sanity apart.

The men had bandaged up her shoulder and patched it up from bleeding any further. The bullet went through and made a clean flesh wound without nicking any bones or arteries.

Ryoga continued to wallow in his seat, fighting to keep conscious as a trail of drool slid down his chin. He wasn't sure how to feel, the heroin they claimed they injected into his veins was playing havoc with his distress.

Three men guarded the room and they patiently smoked cigarettes while sitting on empty drum canisters. Everyone heard the loud yells of pain from Ranma's female voice in the other room. The loud staccato of techno music and punchy bass from the night club upstairs concealed any amount of noise coming from inside the building.

Mr. Joshua reentered the room, letting the room hear the louder and more personal volume of Ranma's agony before the door closed again. He was wiping his hands dry with a towel as he walked up to Nabiki.

"So, Tendo. Now that we have all our distractions out of the way, I'm sure I don't have to convince you much to tell you what you need to do for us."

Nabiki gulped and was forced to look up as Mr. Joshua's rough hands grabbed her chin and yanked it up. She meekly nodded her head, leaving him to grab a phone with a landline from upstairs.

-----------------

Endo shook his head in wonder as the girl in front of him hung lifelessly with only the heaving swells from her well formed breasts to show that she was still alive and breathing.

"No one can take that kind of pain," he muttered to himself. He looked at parts of her torso. Light marks of electrical burns were starting to appear on her ribs.

"Time for you to say good night," Endo said. He lifted the sponges up again and stepped in front to take a look at her beautiful unconscious face before he electrocuted her to death.

Ranma's eyes flipped open and she used what little momentum she had to rock her head back and head butt him as hard as she could against the narrow back wall. Endo dropped his jumper cables in surprise, shorting out the entire power pack as they hit the water cascading onto the floor.

Her legs lifted up and grabbed Endo's neck as his head bounced back forward from the concrete and she locked on tight with a scissor hold. She started growling like a cougar and grunted with pleasure as she felt his vertebrae snap like a twig and his airway crumple like copper tubing. Endo dropped dead, head flopped at an impossible angle as his corpse hit the floor.

Ranma split her legs apart to grab a hold of the walls and lift herself off of the pipe. She somersaulted forward and clear of the cold water, shivering before she held her breath and forcefully ripped apart her wrist hold. She scrambled for her clothes on the ground and hastily put them on, snatching her Beretta out of Endo's belt last.

Pistol in hand, Ranma ran up to the door where the others were held and looked in through the window. The view was much better this time, as the boxes had been cleared out of the way from her struggle before. There were three men inside, but no Mr. Joshua. Ranma turned to the other doors in the room this time, and peeked through them both. The last one had Jackson sitting on a stool, facing away from the door and blindfolded. There was only one bad guy in there, and he was standing right in front of the door.

She balled up her left hand drew it back at her hip. A red charge of crimson ki formed like a fiery blanket around Ranma's fist, enveloping the rest of her forearm. She punched through the steel door, piecing it like a hot knife through butter and into the guard's upper torso. She jerked her arm upwards, silencing any cry he could've eeked, and then pulled out. The red ki flame extinguished itself, without a trace of blood to be found on Ranma's arm.

Jackson's bruised and bloodied head immediately jerked around as he heard the door open and heard the guard behind him drop with a gurgling death rattle. His blindfold was ripped off, and his face glowed in elation at the sight of his partner.

"Ranma!"

She quickly untied his restraints. "Good to see you too, Jackson."

"Did you get caught too? I heard you screaming in the other room." Jackson got up when one of his hands were freed and undid the rest himself. He saw the eviscerated remains of his torturer next to the door.

"I'm not leaving until I kill every one of these assholes," Ranma growled. She kicked over the dead corpse on the ground and grabbed the submachine gun he had been holding. It looked familiar. "This yours?"

Jackson grabbed his MP5SD and slung it over his neck. He racked the charging handle and checked the multiple vice-clamped magazines for ammo. "Sure is."

"Follow me." Ranma went back out and went to the door where the others were held captive. She grabbed Endo's dead body off the floor and kicked the door.

No one inside knew what to think when they saw the steel door land flat on the floor, busted right off its hinges. Ranma ran in screaming and threw the body on the first man she saw, and went after the next.

Jackson came in hot on her trail, aiming first at the gunman that had the dead body thrown on him. Weapon set on full auto and aimed, he riddled him with half a magazine of 9mm rounds center-mass.

Ranma shot her legs forward into the second guy to set him up for a double leg trip. She proceeded to clothesline slam him onto the ground with the pistol hand but instead threw the gun to her left and shot her right hand to the man's throat, grabbing a handful of his larynx. She clawed in deep and dug into the soft flesh and ripped out his voice box altogether, tossing it aside and leaving him for dead. She quickly darted for the last man in the room, punching him in the gut with her pistol, doubling him over. She fired off repeatedly as the bullets came out his backside, tearing apart his black suit.

None of them came close to matching her cheetah-like agility.

"Who's fucking next?" Ranma roared. "Joshua!"

Mr. Joshua dropped the phone from the top of the stairs as he had reentered the basement. He came in just in time to see Ranma and Jackson simultaneous shoot his men to death. The sheer speed of both of them left him speechless.

Ranma barely saw him escape back from where he came. She rushed over to Akane's side, releasing her first. Ranma was immediately swathed in a huge bear hug.

"Ranma! I knew you'd escape!" Akane cried.

Ranma rubbed her back up and down, returning the hug. "I need to free the others."

Jackson was already busy helping untie and carry Ryoga while Ranma ripped apart both Nabiki and Kasumi's restraints. Nabiki immediately, clung around her eldest sister's form, tears streaming down her eyes.

"I'm so sorry, Kasumi, I'm so sorry!" Nabiki sobbed. "I never meant for any of this to happen!"

Ranma shoved her away and helped Kasumi to her feet. She was still strong enough to walk. But she didn't seem to want to.

"Why didn't you just let them kill me?" Kasumi whispered, choking on tears.

Ranma shook his head. It was no time for sentiments and positive guidance. "Does it hurt Kasumi? Do you think you can get out of here?"

She winced as she tried to shrug her shoulders, the pain of her wound clouding her better judgment. "I can barely breathe."

"Jackson, set Ryoga down real quick and take care of these two," Ranma said, pointing to Akane and Nabiki. She carried Kasumi away with her back turned to the others. Ranma reached for the cross pendant on her necklace.

"No," Kasumi hissed. "No more."

Ranma unscrewed the hollow tube and ignored her pleas. She sprinkled some white powder on the back of her palm and lifted it to Kasumi's face. "Just take it. It'll numb the pain till we get out of here alive."

Kasumi shook her head and then winced as another wave of pain crippled her senses. She gravely complied and quietly sniffed it out of view of the others who were far too occupied with shock to notice what she was doing. Kasumi licked the remaining bits off of Ranma's hand, slathering it over her gums.

Ranma took her back to her sisters, both uninjured and capable of taking care of her. Ryoga had his hands full carrying Ryoga, who was still not himself.

"What's wrong with you? What did they do to you?" Ranma asked.

"They shot him full of heroin," Jackson spat. "I saw the whole thing. Your boy here was tougher than they could handle."

"Jesus Christ." Ranma scanned the room and saw her G36K on top of a box. She grabbed it and handed it to Jackson. "You take this, I'll cover from the front."

"I already have a long gun, you take it," Jackson said.

Ranma shook her silver pistol. "I don't have to reload with this. You won't either with that. Now let's move!"

All six approached the top of the stairs in single file, with Ryoga perched on Jackson's back and Ranma at the front of the pack. The door led to an empty corridor, echoing with loud music from the nightclub nearby. They shuffled quickly, unable to take the chance that they might get ambushed again and retaken hostage.

Thankfully, the next door led straight into the club itself. Ranma swung the door open to see a large wall mirror reflecting a stocked bar and a lone man in a dark suit sitting on a stool in front of the bartender. The room was darkened with disco lights and strobes flashing in typical nightclub fashion.

The suit turned around as the door opened and reached for the gun in his shoulder holster as he realized it wasn't one of the men. Ranma aimed quick and fired a single shot into his chest, dropping him like a fly and concealing the shot in beat with the music blasting in the room.

The bartender ducked down and cowered to the ground as Ranma and the rest made their way out and navigated through a growing sea of people. The dance floor took up the majority of the room and in combination with the loud music and dark atmosphere did a good job of concealing six raggedy looking individuals making a caterpillar line towards the exit.

Jackson noticed several men scrambling out from behind the DJ booth, armed with carbine rifles. Ranma noticed the same, and raised her pistol to shoot but was bumped into another man. She immediately recognized him as one of the same as the other gangsters and kneed him in the stomach.

Jackson took aim and squeezed off two consecutive silenced shots at both offenders as they ran towards them, knocking them both down. Ranma stuck her pistol under her opponent's stomach and fired off multiple times. This time the noise wasn't concealed, and the entire dance crowd shrieked at the explosion of gunfire.

Pandemonium broke out amidst the dizzying strobe lights flashing the room. More men came from behind the DJ booth and from some of the private rooms of the club, hastily brandishing pistols and various subcompact machine pistols aimed at Ranma and Jackson.

Jackson dropped down Ryoga who managed to crouch and hide on his own. The Tendo sisters huddled in fright as the people around them stampeded towards the exit. Ranma flicked on the guide-rod laser of her pistol to aim through the confusion of the dark room and let his trigger finger go to work.

Most of the Oroshi men ducked, unable to fight head on with the skilled pair on the dance floor. Ranma took out several men hiding behind leather couches, unfortunate souls who watched too many action movies thinking hiding was adequate cover for gunfire. Jackson picked off his targets through sheer firepower, the unusually strong 5.56mm jacketed rounds of Ranma's suppressed rifle punching through steel pillars and getting those who had managed to get adequate cover.

Mr. Joshua appeared at the large entrance of the club, shoving away panicking club-goers as they crowded their way out the ramped walkway to the exit. He held a very large belt-fed monstrosity in his arms.

Jackson screeched. "M-60! Get down!"

Ranma dropped right before a buzz saw of 7.62mm lead barely missed her duck and tickled the follicles of hair on her head. She raised her hand and saw the laser beam illuminating and dancing around Mr. Joshua's standing form. "Motherfucker!"

"I'll see you in hell!" Mr. Joshua screamed, spraying to hit as both his targets had ducked. He didn't notice the red beam from Ranma's pistol illuminating all over his body and jerked back with a scream when a bullet took off his right thumb. He dropped, barely missing a couple of pot shots from Ranma as she continued to fire at him from her dropped position.

Mr. Joshua picked up his machine gun and ran out the door. He didn't want to lose his life outgunned like this.

"Joshua!" Ranma screamed as she jumped back up and started running after him. The club emptied out in a flash, and there were no more obstructions in the way. She ran out the door, bloodlust coursing through every living fiber of her being.

The clouds had doubled up as the night had progressed and the streets were in a full down pour. Ranma scanned the hectic streets, packed with cars and pedestrians. She saw Mr. Joshua forcing a man out of his sports car and taking it as his own. He sped away quickly and without hesitation. Ranma looked around the tall buildings, there were no low rooftops for her to traverse quickly.

Ranma wasn't about to let him get away. She ran up to a biker on a brand new Suzuki GSX-R1000, the same kind that Ukyou had bought recently. "Sir, I'm requisitioning this bike for a police emergency, get off!"

She side kicked him off the bike, flinging him onto the pavement. He looked up with a bewildered look behind the lens of his helmet and watched as some drenched girl tore his bike a new one as it slipped and slid on the wet road.

Mr. Joshua floored the pedal of his car, a Nissan Skyline GT-R that just happened to be in his lucky sights. The all wheel drive proved uncannily helpful in the rain as he was speeding in the most illegal manner possible through sidewalks and scraping through traffic grid locked vehicles.

Ranma barely held control of her powerful motorcycle. The muscle memory reflexes were all still there, old memories of learning to ride with his other ex-fiancee coming in with crystal clarity. She planted a near 12 o'clock wheelie when she yanked the throttle too hard, nearly losing the front end to speed wobbles as it touched back down. Her small profile and nimble vehicle caught up in a flash to Mr. Joshua's hijacked sports car, her silhouette too small for him to notice that she had been chasing him.

With a battle cry, Ranma dumped the bike and jumped onto the roof of the car at high speed. She punched down on the roof, easily tearing through like aluminum foil and serving double duty as a hand hold when the car started swerving out of control in surprise. She lifted an open palm and aimed it at the engine bay, sucking in a huge breath.

"Mokotaka Bisha!"

The front end of the Skyline imploded and the inertia lifted the back of the car to flip it forward. Ranma was launched off the roof and catapulted onto the streets, horrifying a large group of onlookers who were split between watching the automobile disaster and a pretty young woman landing on the painted lines of a crosswalk with a crackling thump.

An arm flapped helpless from the interior of the mangled, upside down Skyline. Mr. Joshua groaned pathetically as he tried to pull himself away from the wreck with his hands. Both of his legs felt crushed and broken.

A crowd of worried bystanders gasped aloud as Ranma picked herself up, dusting off her shoulders and cracking her neck as if nothing had gone wrong. Pistol still in hand, she walked over to the crash site to watch her prey squirm under the weight of scrap steel.

Ranma came close to him, and then stopped to see all the rubberneckers surrounding them in a circle. She thinned her lips. This wasn't the place for an audience. She carefully gauged the excited heat emanating from the curious pedestrians around her and shot a fist of cold ki into the air, summoning a non-lethal Hiryu-Shoten Ha into the street to blow up dust and wind up into the air and drive everyone away. Those who weren't moving shielded their eyes, unable to see through the cyclone.

She continued letting off cold energy, fueled from her merciless heart as she stared down at the man who threatened something very important to Ranma. Whether she liked to admit it or not, even if it was from years of trying to pretend to forget or a heartbreak that changed the course of her life; this man had tried to take them away.

Mr. Joshua looked up at Ranma, his back flat on the ground and his hands fumbling with a cheap pistol. A .380.

Ranma looked at it, and saw the make. A Norinco. Chinese model. She easily kicked it away, breaking his hand in the process.

"So you're the one," Ranma said softly, eyes narrowing.

Mr. Joshua had no idea what he was talking about. He looked at her proudly, not a hint of pity cowering his eyes as he summoned every bit of his willpower not to show the pain of his freshly broken hand. "I'm just a professional, doing my job."

Ranma nodded. She holstered her gun and lifted her right hand in the air, pointing her index and middle finger downward. It struck down and entered through solid bone skull like gelatin, deep down to the knuckles.

"So am I," Ranma replied.

***

April 29th, 2001.

Tendo Home – Nerima, Tokyo. 12:01 AM.

Somber wasn't even close to the right word to describe the Tendo home as the four adults, once childhood friends, gathered around the tea room. At the moment, none had anything to say. Nothing had been exchanged for a great while as they sat facing each other, each person transfixed on their own trivial spot on the stained table.

Akane squeezed tight on Ryoga's hand, feeling the sweat from his clammy palms. He had recovered quickly, regained his wits after they had escaped from their nightmarish prison. He insisted with no regard for his own well being that he wanted to stick by Akane's side before he checked into the hospital himself, putting his wife first and foremost before anything else.

Kasumi was immediately placed in an ambulance and sent to the closest hospital for immediate treatment for her gunshot wound and her shell shocked distress. Tofu's body had long been placed at the morgue, collected by JNSA agents and put under great care until his body could be properly examined before the spouse could claim him for funeral arrangements. The patriarch of the Tendo household had come home to a complete shock and had a minor cardiac incident. He was placed in the same hospital as his daughter to be watched and examined for preventative reasons.

Jackson had accompanied Kasumi to the hospital to treat his own injuries and also to serve as a surrogate bodyguard for the targeted family member. As a testament to his tough pedigree and his top-class training, Jackson was on full alert and as able bodied as he ever was with just a cup of coffee and a clean shower.

Nabiki sat on her shins next to Ranma, fists balled up at her knees and hair covering her entire face. The guilt of Tofu's death and the rest of her family's ordeal was just a part of the puzzle that swirled thoughts of suicidal plots and uncontrollable rage through her aching chest. She kept alternating between grinding her teeth and licking her lips, repeating over and over in her head on a magic word or a phrase that could make this whole mess disappear.

Ranma sat with legs and arms crossed and a lit Marlboro Red stuck between his lips. A freshly opened pack sat in front of him on the table. He ran through a checklist of things that were taken care of. From Jackson being treated and briefed, to detaining Sakuragi which he missed earlier, to informing Kurosawa and Takayama of the fantastic incident that had occurred in the night. Ranma had also called Kiyone, swept by an impulsive urge to seek her companionship and share with her what he had just gone through. Kiyone promised to fly back to Nerima on Yagami to pick him up tonight, as soon as she had taken care of some quick business before leaving Okayama.

He swam through a distant memory in his head, one that he hadn't recalled in a long time since he was a child. He remembered being on the road with his father, getting caught up in one hair brained scheme after another whenever their travel money had been depleted and they were forced to use creative measures to eat another day. It didn't happen often, but a couple of incidents had left him wondering to what risk and danger he and his father were willing to go to steal food or catch dinner in the wild.

Times were simpler back then. If he had been caught stealing, which both him and his father had several times, the only punishment was washing dishes or doing free work or enduring the humility of running away like thieves in the night. Consequences and punishment were never a sorrow or worry when training, as the next day brought upon a clean slate.

He opened his eyes now and released a puff of smoke aimed at the ceiling, directing it away from the other people in the room. Ranma looked around and saw the silent musings of the family, after he had explained in painstaking and excruciating detail just what Nabiki had done to them. He expected the looks of hurt and shock, disappointment and undisclosed hatred. But they were all cycling emotions that vanished as quickly as they appeared, and no one, Ranma included, had found the energy to continually assault Nabiki for what she had done.

One thing was made clear, with no room for ambiguity as Ranma saw to it. He let Nabiki know under no exceptions would her life ever be the same again. Without blatantly mentioning the judicial punishments and legal backlash that would come to collect on her dues past, Ranma delivered the full weight of his message regardless.

"Be grateful," Ranma finally said, breaking the silence. "For a moment I was thinking the only way to handle this was to put a bullet in your brain myself."

Nabiki's eyes hardened and her jaw set a little tighter. The swirling typhoon of emotional blunder in her heart dissipated and stabilized just a bit as his comment pushed at one of her buttons.

"Ranma," Akane started.

Ryoga looked up. He saw Akane's lips trying to form words as she looked at Ranma, and then she stopped. She gathered her head down again.

"I think I'm going to go see father and Kasumi now," Akane said. She got up from her seat and wiped her tired and baggy eyes. It hurt to rub the inflamed skin around her eyelids as she had spent more time crying today than anything else she could remember from recent memory.

Ryoga got up to join her. "I'm coming with you."

Akane looked at him and then led him outside of the room. She made sure they were out of hearing range from Ranma. "I want you to stay here and keep an eye on Nabiki."

"What? I'm not sticking anywhere near that disaster," Ryoga adamantly said. "Besides, Ranma's here."

"I can't deal with everything that's happening right now," Akane said, shutting her eyes forcefully. "I need you to stay by Nabiki because of Ranma."

"What?"

"Who knows what will happen if we leave them alone. You heard what happened. I can't just ignore the fact that Nabiki almost got all of us killed. Ranma's not the best person to stick her alone with either."

Ryoga grimaced. "But I can't just leave you alone either. I can't lose you."

Akane shook her head. "I need some time alone with Kasumi at the hospital and take care of father. You can join me later whenever they part ways or if Ranma is forced to put Nabiki-oneechan in jail." Akane felt tears rising up again. They hurt and stung to have welling up underneath her skin. "Just do this one thing for me, and come to the hospital later to check yourself in, OK?"

Ryoga stood still and watched as Akane took his hands into his, cuddling her swollen face into it. He sadly complied, mustering his lips to widen well short of a smile.

---------------------

After getting through the awkward and intimidating tribulations of revealing all of Nabiki's at the coffee table, Ranma's thoughts kept going back to the same peculiar moment from several hours before.

Sitting in the kitchen of the Tendo home, he lost himself in thought as the same scene played over and over again. After opening that steel door the first time around, he wondered how he had allowed a gunman to come sneak behind him and get the jump on him in the first place. He shallowly reassured himself that the situation would have panned out the same way whether he was captured or not, thanks to Mr. Joshua's ruthlessly efficient tactics. But it still grated on him, as he dared to find the reason why his awareness had slipped so carelessly when he needed his wits the most.

Of course he knew the answer all along. It was just a cycle of admitting and denying it, playing "what ifs" and "why nots" in his mind as he continuously rationalized and then belittled himself for getting so drunk and out of control with his fine tuned body.

The strongest argument in his mind was that he wasn't a stranger to drinking, and that nothing had ever gone wrong before in the past. People tended to continue to do the things they did the way they did them as long as it all worked out in the end. It was his diehard motivation and bedrock haven to fall back on for when times had gotten rough and life was too difficult to manage on his own. Completely on his own.

But it had become more than that. He didn't dare have the courage to ask himself further just what the hell he had become. All he knew was the burning truth of the moment. His own recklessness almost ruined everything and he was lucky to survive to realize it.

Ranma sighed. He looked over beyond the kitchen door and wondered what Ryoga and Nabiki were doing, as they were both left alone in the tea room. He got up to fix a kettle on the stove and searched the cabinets for some instant coffee.

The cloth over hangs covering the kitchen entry fluttered as Ryoga walked in, looking haggard and even more depleted than he was before. Ranma turned around and raised an eye.

"Hey, P-chan. Want some coffee?"

Ryoga looked at him with a neutral expression. "No thanks. Actually, let me make you some."

Ranma's lips formed a ring, surprised by the kind gesture. He took a seat by the coffee table. "How you holding up?"

Ryoga tilted his head lightly from side to side. "I'll live."

"Going to the hospital to get your system checked?"

"Yeah, in a bit." Ryoga gathered a coffee cup and a coaster from the cabinet.

"I don't envy you," Ranma said, shaking his head. "I can't believe those bastards stuck you full of heroin. That's low."

Ryoga shut his eyes. He reached for the instant coffee powder. "Please, don't remind me."

"I'll get them for you, Ryoga." Ranma's brow firmed. "I promise I'll get them back. For all of us."

"And what about Nabiki?"

"She has to pay for her sins," Ranma said simply. "We all do. It's not something we can escape. Even you."

Ryoga paused as he reached for a stirring spoon. "Even me?"

"Yes, even you." Ranma jaw felt unsettled. "Akari."

Ryoga turned off the stove range for the kettle and poured it into the coffee cup. The room felt like it dropped a couple of degrees. "Akari? Huh? What about her?"

"Don't."

"Don't what?"

"Don't play dumb with me, Ryoga." Ranma rested a leg over his knee as he crossed his arms. "I know all about her."

Ryoga sighed. He mixed the boiling water with the coffee spoon and watched the instant coffee crystals dissolve. The aroma alone seemed to lift his spirits. "I dumped her, so what. I didn't do it right, but I did it clean. Nabiki said she went on with her life and did her own thing."

Ranma paused. He looked over Ryoga's body language. As far as he knew, ever since they were little kids, Ryoga was never a good liar. "Is that what she told you?"

Ryoga shook his head, genuinely confused. "Tell me what?"

"Damn, so you don't know then," Ranma said. He considered it for a moment. It wasn't the confessional outcome he had been expecting.

Ryoga walked over with the cup of coffee, served in a traditional miniature European style mug with matching ceramic coaster. His fingers trembled involuntarily and clattered the enamelware as he handed to Ranma.

"Well I'll be damned," Ranma said, accepting the cup. He looked at Ryoga's hands. "Must be the withdrawals. Hope you don't get addicted," Ranma joked.

Ryoga turned his back against Ranma. "Yeah."

"I'm just messing with you, Ryoga." Ranma sipped his coffee, and hummed in appreciation. "Hey, not bad! I like the taste of this..."

The first thing Ryoga did as he turned on his heels was close his eyes as he lifted his right hand. The slender Walther PPK and its elongated tube suppressor matched with black, parkerized finishes. Ryoga squeezed the trigger and felt the slide clack back and the recoil course through on the straight axis of his forearm. It was tamer than he ever imagined.

The subsonic .380 ACP bullet hit Ranma on the right side of his chest, popping a clean hole through the fabric of his shirt. The first thing he heard was the hollow pneumatic thud of a nail gun, followed by the hissing pop of the suppressor can.

Ranma jolted involuntarily as his eyes rolled back and his feet clattered on the ground, sliding his back forward and slumped on his chair. His first instinct was unusual, as he tried to set down the coffee cup on its matching coaster with an refined click before he looked up to see the smoking barrel still pointed in his direction. It looked hauntingly familiar, exactly like the one Jackson carried.

Ryoga didn't breathe. He felt his grip loosen and let the pistol go with his finger still in the trigger guard. The balanced of weight rotated the pistol forward with the barrel pointing back towards Ryoga, spooking him and causing him to drop the gun to the ground.

He looked back at Ranma who was snorting and wheezing through breaths, eyes still wide open. He was too terrified to pick it back up, too astonished to think of anything but that direct moment and only that current moment, frame by frame as it flashed by in his conscious mind.

Ranma looked at Ryoga, unable to afford the energy to keep his eyes and head pointed anywhere but at him. His arms and legs didn't respond, but he did feel the warm essence of his life trickling from his chest and down to his torso and pant leg. His breath calmed, and he started inhaling in whispers.

He thought back to simpler times again. He remembered Ryoga the lost boy, his favorite challenger of the week. Ranma opened his lip just enough to part them, a gentle draft of noise trying to form words from his mouth.

"I'm glad it was you."

His eyes said it was bright out, but Ranma felt like closing his eyes and fell asleep.

[End Chapter 8]

Disclaimer: This is fan fiction, I don't plan to make a profit out of someone else's work, just don't sue me. All respective trademarks, copyrights, whatever-rights, theirs and not mine.

Author's Ramble: This one was hands down the quickest piece I've ever written out of all the chapters thus far. Made in a little over 17 days, in fact. It took a little bit of strategic change in the way I wrote, but to be honest a lot of it has to do with just a kick-ass muse that has been giving me some excellent writing vibes and a lot of free time that I've previously had not available for this kind of work. And a huge inspiration and influence came from Ariolander, who inspired me by working hard and setting up a custom webpage for my fics (something I've direly missed for a long time since my anifics site went down) in a matter of days. I don't think I could ever pay back that kind of hard, generous work. And I thank you for that.

Author's Notes: If you're reading this and wondering what the hell just happened, I apologize. You'll just have to patiently wait for the next chapter to come out. I'll guarantee and promise you right now however that you won't find the next one anytime soon. At least no where near the speed in which this chapter was brought out. Besides, despite what it seems I didn't leave any of you hanging really, if you caught all the little details.

Over the years, I received MANY complaints over the quality of my stories in regards to pacing and flow since I favor making such long winded out scenes and chapters. On retrospect, I absolutely agree 100% after rereading my own works long after I've finished writing them and the whole "writer's pride" glow has worn off and I'm able to somewhat objectively critique my own work. I delve unnecessarily into tedious exposition and get caught up in sluggish scenes that do little to progress the story and much to frustrate the reader. I like learning from my mistakes, or at the very least doing something different to see what else can work. I first experimented with a newer, more rapid paced writing style in the last chapter with a couple of scenes, and used it almost exclusively in this one. If anyone feels this chapter went by too quick, glossed over way too rushed, or any other sentiments, please email me and tell me. If it seemed too slow still and there are still hang-ups with badly paced scenes, email me and tell me. I'm sure there will be examples of both.

**Last minute add: Ok, when I refer to the story's pacing and what not, I wasn't referring to the purposefully sudden and jarring end of this chapter. I was talking about the whole thing before it. The ending was purposefully engineered that way because obviously I wanted to work with it later, hmm???? *HINT HINT, WINK WINK. Sigh.

So this chapter finally answered the big question and conflict that has been building up for the past few years and chapters regarding Nabiki's shady dealings with the Yakuza. I had lots of fun writing out the rapid cut action sequences and the entire "reciprocity" section. A huge portion of this fic was written in one long, continuous session. I was possessed like a demon to connect these scenes while I had my mojo running strong, and my instinct tells me for now that I think I've done the right thing. Of course, the end result is for you, the reader, to decide.

If the hostage situation and Ranma's capture and torture sounds similar, well don't worry because you most likely have seen it somewhere. Some details were copied verbatim for fun, but I'll acknowledge that fact here but I don't feel like pointing out exactly what's what and what's not. It's basically highly inspired by the amazing climax in the first Lethal Weapon (1987) movie, one of the best action sequences I think ever filmed.

My version of Mr. Joshua was modeled after a South African special forces soldier (I did a quick Wikipedia search and gleaned his pedigree), inspired in part by Leonardo DiCaprio's badass fucking role in Blood Diamond (2006). It's just a shame I had to give him an awesome death scene though.

And I know I'll get flack for this, but I told you I'd make Kasumi's little drug habit useful again and play a (semi) pivotal role in the next chapter. It's just she gets the raw end of the deal, out of everybody. The thing is, her scene and her outcome was written in my outline and plot for this story for YEARS. It's not just some spiteful detail I conjured up out of nowhere.

The only fun details (if you can call it fun) that I thought up on the fly was Shampoo's introspection with Ranma, because I thought she needed just a bit cameo since I love her so much. I wonder how you guys liked that portrayal. The other improvised detail was Ryoga's little heroin trip to suppress him. So evil, but it ended up being a great idea in my opinion. Alas, it has NOTHING to do with the ending of this chapter, however. The ending of this chapter was always planned the way it is. Which by the way that last scene is also inspired by another good movie, but I won't tell you what it is. Can you guess it? Even if you're right, I'll tell you right now it has nothing to do with what happens next in the plot.

So this is, guys. Next chapter will be quite a while, but when it does come that's it. Officer Saotome is coming to a close. It's one more chapter, ALONG with another short epilogue, and that's it. 10 chapters total. I can't believe how long it's been...

Check out my new website at .com . Lots of cool stuff there, in addition to my fanfics!.

PLEASE, PLEASE, PLEASE SEND ME FEEDBACK!!! Apparently people got the message last time, and it worked this time around. Finished this baby in less than a month, how do you like that? My e-mail is . For the people, you'll have to click the links on my profile.

Finished November 20, 2008. Currently considered a rough draft, subject to further revision.


	9. 09 The Return of Dawn

This fic is a crossover with Ranma and the Tenchi OAV/Universe series. Hopefully you readers know some basic knowledge about both Ranma and Tenchi:) Compared to movies, I would rate this as a "R" fanfic, because of some of the harsh language used. Actually I've used this same intro for years to all my fics, and since it's chapter 9 and by this point you've already read this far and know what I'm talking about, I want to add this: This fic basically isn't for the soft. Case closed.

Here are a few things you must know while reading this:

-For all of you readers, PLEASE read the notes at the end of the fic for things that you don't understand, my notes just might answer all your questions. If that doesn't do it, feel free to pound away at my mailbox. Actually, if you want to comment on anything regardless go for it, I love hearing from you guys and appreciate each and every reply.

-The Ranma aspect of the story takes place after manga 38 and the Tenchi aspect takes place after the TV show/OVA.

-At the end of manga 38 Ranma was at the end of his sophomore year in Furinkan High School and the year is set to 1992. Don't ask why, I chose that particular date out of convenience. This is to set a timeframe where Akane and Ranma met during their lives.

-SgtRanma

Please visit my website at . or email me at

For you guys reading from fanfiction dot net, and you can't see the links above, click on my profile and check out my homepage. There's some cool stuff on there, worth checking out. You might like it.

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Chapter 9: The Return of Dawn

April 29th, 2001.

Tendo Home – Nerima, Tokyo. 12:36 AM.

Ryoga kissed Akane on the forehead as she bent down to fit her heels into her shoes with her fingers. They both embraced in a hug before she reached for the door handle.

"Don't be too long, I'll be waiting for you at the hospital, OK?" Akane said.

"I'll be there," Ryoga replied. He looked at her with puppy dog eyes and looked ready to whimper as she left the house, leaving him alone.

A sore bump inside of his left elbow elicited an uncomfortable itch, breaking Ryoga out of his worried trance. He looked down and remembered the events of the evening, shuddering at the sudden onslaught of adrenaline fraying his senses.

He walked back to the tearoom and found Nabiki smoking one of the cigarettes that Ranma had bought on the way home. Her fingers were jittering nervously as she powered through several forced hits of the lit tobacco.

Nabiki looked up at him and eyed the open path to the kitchen. "Come in and close the door behind you."

Ryoga's face started to harden with subdued resentment. He did as he was told and felt the furnace in his stomach churning upwards.

"Listen to what I have to say. I know you can't stand the sight of me right now, but let me finish. Ranma's out in the kitchen right now, I'll be quick," Nabiki said. "You're going to help me out of this."

"Help you?" Ryoga squeezed the bridge of his noise and felt his hot breath as it blew back from his hand. "Help you with what, Nabiki? You're already in a world of trouble. Tofu's dead. You nearly got all of us killed."

Nabiki grabbed the front of his shirt in a fist. "Stop that!"

"And your life is over," Ryoga continued. "What the hell are you thinking?"

"I'm not going down like this, not after all I've had to do." Nabiki's eyes were glistening with welling tears and they trembled as she let Ryoga go, fingers shaking. "I never meant for it to happen like this. You don't know how sorry I am for what happened to Tofu and Kasumi. To you and Akane. But I don't want to go away either, locked away with the same kind of people who kidnapped us."

Ryoga looked away at his sister-in-law. Despite the hatred and remorse he felt for all the tragedy that had occurred in the span of the day, it hurt to see her like this too. She was still a part of his family. "I don't know what to say. Ranma's going to make you pay for what you did."

"No!" Nabiki started grinding her teeth and looked around nervously. Ranma had gone into the dojo to be alone and had gone through the kitchen. She was able to hear the doors opening and closing in case he came back in. "We have to do something about him."

Ryoga's frowned incredulously. "Do something about who? Ranma?"

"You owe me," Nabiki said quietly. "We have to get rid of him so I can buy some time."

"We?" Ryoga spoke through clenched teeth. "I don't have any damn reason to get rid of him. I don't like him but I sure as hell ain't in a position to do something bad to him considering what he's done for me. And what the hell do I owe you?"

"I've done everything for you! I kept your marriage intact, helped you set up the dojo business, remodeled your home, taught you how to handle your finances and support my sister!"

Ryoga fought to keep his voice low. "And I appreciate it all! But how the hell does that rationalize what you're asking of me? And what the hell do you think you and I can do to Ranma anyway?"

Nabiki darted her eyes away. She reached into her suit blazer, the same clothing she had worn all day. A small black pistol with a cylindrical can attached to the muzzle dangled from a breast pocket. She pulled it out and set it on the table. "Take it."

Ryoga's face recoiled in horror. "Where did you get that?"

"It's Ranma's partner's. I saw them take it off of him when he was caught. It was dropped on the floor when Ranma came in and killed everyone I picked it up when we were escaping."

"Why would you do that?" Ryoga asked, eyes fixed on the gun.

"Because I thought we were going to get killed! We had to fight for our lives!"

Ryoga shook his head, amazed. "And you had that hidden this whole time? Why do you still have it?"

Nabiki shoved it forward. The metal slid across the wooden table like she was passing a bowl of rice. "Take it. Shoot Ranma."

Ryoga stared past Nabiki's eyes. His first thought was the drug lingering in his system was making him hallucinate. He was still feeling nauseous and unstable from the opiates. "You're crazy."

"Take it."

Realization dawned on him. Ryoga saw her rabid face, the excited twitch in both of her eyelashes, and the jaw numbing clench of her teeth. "No way. Get the hell out of here."

"I'll fucking ruin you," Nabiki hissed. "You and your life as P-chan for starters."

"I can live with that," Ryoga said, shaking his head. His head shifted back bit by bit, eyes still wide. "That's nothing compared to what you're asking for and what's going to happen to you anyway."

Nabiki's mouth twisted. "Oh, I'm not done yet. I'll tell Akane that you played Akari like a fool. You cruelly left her behind without it cutting it off before you started with Akane. That she was the only one you trusted to show your pig side."

"It was as clean as I can make it, I always got lost trying to find her again." Ryoga's eyes started to waver. "Not enough. You won't faze me with that."

Nabiki growled. She couldn't hide it anymore. She couldn't hide how desperate she was. "I'm not finished! I'll bring you down with me, I'll lie and make things up and have you turned into my accomplice!"

"That's enough, Nabiki!" Ryoga felt his lips start to quiver, tears forming in his eyes too. He felt terribly hurt to be blackmailed like this, it was something he didn't expect Nabiki to take so far. Not to him, who was still part of her family and they had treated each other over the years as such.

"I'll do it," Nabiki said, tears streaming down her cheeks. Her voice started squeaking lightly. "I swear to god I'll do it. I have everything I need to turn it on anyone I want. I can't go down like this, Ryoga. I can't."

Ryoga shook his head firmly. "This is madness."

"Take it, or prepare to live your life alone and miserable. I'll take it all away from you. Don't corner me. You always said you wanted to kill Ranma-"

"I didn't mean it like this!"

"Well, I'm going to kill you worse than if you were dead." Nabiki's bloodshot eyes pierced through Ryoga's. "I don't have enough time to keep saying this. I'm not going to ask again. If I go in tonight, you're going down."

Ryoga felt a single, bitter tear stream down his own cheek. His whole body shook and he looked at Nabiki with the ugliest of hatred. He grabbed the gun and pointed it at her. "And what if I kill you first?"

This time Nabiki froze up, her eyes stuck on the barrel of the suppressor. "You couldn't."

"You certainly deserve it." Ryoga's breathing went shallow and his hands were wet with perspiration. Thoughts of his settled life, his work, his students, and his wife flashed through his head. "I'm not killing anyone for anybody."

Nabiki bit back her lip. "You kill me and it's over anyway. You'll go to jail, you have everything gone. You don't do as I say, I'll do the same thing anyway. You can say it was the drugs that made you do it!"

Ryoga threw the pistol at her and hit her on the top of her arm as she jerked to avoid it. "Why are you doing this to me?"

Both of them heard the dojo pathway entrance door open from the kitchen. Nabiki pierced Ryoga with her swollen eyes one last time.

"No more time." She threw back the gun at Ryoga. "Do this, or it's all over for everyone. I'm not talking anymore. I told you what I'm going to do."

Ryoga gulped and held the pistol in his hand again. He took a good look of Nabiki. She was crazy, but she looked serious. The aura of her ki was erratic and tinted with wisps of black. His brain was whirled up in turmoil to think straight as well.

His deepest fears and darkest sorrows clinched his resolve. Ryoga stood up and wiped away his eyes. "You're not my family anymore."

Nabiki looked up. "Do it," she whispered.

She watched Ryoga walk out of the room, shoulders slumped like the life was sucked out of him. He closed the doors as he left her alone in the tea room. Nabiki crumbled in her seat and laid her head down on the table, sobbing quietly.

---------------------------

The way Ranma's eyes momentarily went white and his body convulse violently made Ryoga's throat dry. He dropped the pistol on the ground and his eyes traced the thin trail of gunpowder smoke that wafted from the end of the muzzle.

Ryoga wanted to clap his ears shut at the grotesque sound of Ranma wheezing for breath. He looked up and saw that Ranma wasn't retaliating. His hands were still and hanging at his side. Ryoga had kept thinking over and over for the past few seconds that his life and livelihood was safe again, secured from Nabiki's treacherous grasp.

But he didn't feel safe at all. He watched the hole in Ranma's shirt start oozing out blood, sickly and thicker than he could ever imagine as it slowly streaked down his clothes. Ryoga felt a void in his own chest and didn't know what to think just yet, but there was something filling up quick. He just didn't know what it was.

In the split-second frames that guided his conscious self, Ryoga watched as Ranma's breathing came back to normal. Then it slowed further. And further.

Ryoga wondered with grim fascination what was going through Ranma's mind right now with his unresponsive, glassy eyes. Ranma was staring straight at him, yet Ryoga was compelled to match him. At last, a weak smile that curled onto Ranma's lips made Ryoga's blood run cold.

The loudest words Ryoga had ever heard pierced his eardrums with deafening clarity.

"I'm glad...it was you."

The contents of Ryoga's stomach thrusted out after he saw Ranma close his eyes. He didn't quite make it to the sink as he turned around and tried to catch some of it in his hands.

Nabiki popped into the kitchen, fluttering the doorway overhang as she came in. The suppressed gunshot sounded like a balloon popping from the tea room. She watched as Ryoga heaved and moaned with the water running in the kitchen sink.

She looked at Ranma's prone body on the seat, peacefully slumped over. She felt like throwing up too, but gagged it back. Nabiki wordlessly walked over to the counter and grabbed some paper towels to clean up the spilled plops of vomit on the floor. Her eyes blankly glanced over to Ranma's body. The blood from his chest was soaking up on his pants and shirt.

Ryoga clutched his head and started crying. He blubbered out nonsensical noises and started shaking his head back and forth. Nabiki came up behind him and shook him rapidly and he turned around to grab her by the throat. She gasped for breath as he lifted her off the ground.

Ryoga twitched his arm in anticipation of mashing his grip on her. "You-you-you!"

Nabiki had the gun in her hand with a paper towel wrapped around the grip. In a panic, she raised it and fired off several shots. One of them hit Ryoga's shoulder and he dropped her in a pained hiss, the other rounds hit the backboard of the kitchen counter.

"We don't have time for this," Nabiki croaked, coughing and gasping for air.

Ryoga looked at the new flesh wound on his shoulder with fascination. "You shot me."

"You were choking me to death you son-of-a-bitch." Nabiki pushed herself up and looked at him haggardly.

"Why?" Ryoga mumbled. He put his hands in his face and the tears starting coming back. He looked up at Nabiki with misery. "Why didn't you just aim higher?"

Nabiki grit her teeth and started panicking again. The sight of Ranma's dead body was already enough, watching Ryoga break down just now threatened to do the same to her. "Come on, it's over. I'll get rid of the evidence, you dump his body outside. Tell them you were shot by the same guys who came to get you and you were ambushed. You can live your happy life again with Akane."

Ryoga wanted to believe her with every thread and fiber of his being.

------------------

He was quickly advised to throw the body out, the buzz and horror of committing murder for some reason made him much more anxious to move around and do it as quick as possible. In his haste Nabiki had somehow remembered to attach his GPS unit to his pants, lest he got lost and implicated himself in Ranma's murder by being a missing suspect. Ryoga never noticed that Ranma's curse still activated as he dragged the body out into the heavy rain and into the empty streets.

Nabiki had told him to drop him inside of the garbage dumpster around the corner, the only place either could think of amidst their nerve-wracked state. Ryoga saw a trail of bright blood washing out from Ranma's clothes in the white streetlights, swirling beautifully with the rain water as it streamed off into the nearest gutter.

Ryoga made it around the next block when he heard a single moan through the loud pouring rain. He dropped Ranma's body and noticed the round, protruding breasts sticking to her wet shirt. Ryoga saw her chest twitch lightly and ran off into the night.

***

April 29th, 2001.

Galaxy Police Cruiser Yagami, Forward Cockpit – Nerima, Tokyo. 12:51 AM.

Kiyone yawned and let Mihoshi take over the wheel as she made her way back to gather her things.

"Make sure you set it on stealth before you descend," Kiyone said. She remembered the last time she was dropped off by Mihoshi, they had accidentally garnered the attention of neighboring Saitama's Air-Defense Forces while they were on a routine training flight.

"I'm glad Ranma avenged Sergeant Kanemaki and his family," Mihoshi said. "Can you give him a kiss for me as thanks?"

Kiyone smiled sadly. "I will, Mihoshi."

The spacecraft descended rapidly over a quiet suburban neighborhood and caused an odd spot on the streets where the rain was shielded by an invisible force in the air. Kiyone grabbed her duffel bag and wore a baseball cap to cover herself the best she could from the rain. Mihoshi had borrowed every umbrella that Kiyone had stored on board and hadn't remembered to bring any of them back.

"We're right over the address Ranma gave us," Mihoshi said. "Hope you stay safe, Kiyone."

"I will, Mihoshi. You take care." Kiyone walked over to the short range teleportation booth. "I'll call you."

Kiyone materialized right below the floating, invisible hull of Yagami and waved as the ship started flying away and exposed her to raindrops. She started jogging down the street, just around the block to the Tendo Dojo. She nearly ran past the body of a girl, sleeping on the streets with her face down.

She backpedaled and shook her head in disbelief. Had this girl gotten drunk and passed out on the street in the pouring rain? She walked up closer. "Excuse me, are you alright?"

Her eyes widened immediately when she saw the blood washing away from her clothes. "Oh my god, you're hurt!"

She dropped her bag on the street with a splash and flipped over the girl. What she saw made her freeze.

Ranma. In female form. A small bullet hole gushing lightly with blood over her right breast. Kiyone knocked back her baseball cap as she grabbed her head in shock. She screamed Ranma's name and pulled out her Galaxy Police info-cube, signaling Mihoshi on the radio.

"Mihoshi! Get back here now, Ranma's been shot!"

A roaring gust of wind and jet exhaust blew away all the rain as Yagami's invisible form hovered over the skies again. Kiyone pressed feverishly on the touch controls of her GP cube and beamed herself and Ranma's body into Yagami's sick bay.

Mihoshi came running down the ship's main corridor, her breathing ragged. "What happened?"

Kiyone's wet teal hair flicked around as she turned to Mihoshi. "I'm putting Ranma in stasis! Call Washu right now and tell her we have an emergency!"

With a clear nod Mihoshi ran back to the cockpit and set the autopilot to return to Okayama at full speed as she simultaneously hailed Washu over the communicator. Her eyes were dead serious and her movements were deliberate and free of her usually clumsy and indecisive self.

At this late at night the phone to Washu's personal line didn't answer immediately. She was asleep, as was the rest of the Masaki household.

Mihoshi forced her way into one of Washu's communicator intercoms in her lab, using an emergency direct line that was accessible only on Yagami and Yukinojo. "Mayday, mayday! Washu, we have an emergency!"

A hologram popped open with an annoyed Washu getting up out of her bed. She lifted her eye-cover onto her forehead. "What the hell is it, Mihoshi?"

Mihoshi immediately plugged the call into the medical bay where Kiyone was frantically punching buttons into the computer to diagnose Ranma's condition from head to toe.

Kiyone looked up at the holographic communiqué and felt her first bit of relief. "Washu! We found Ranma shot in the chest and dumped on the streets! I just put her body in stasis and I'm running over her vitals. She's not breathing and I couldn't find a pulse!"

Washu stayed calm, grumbling as her right hand pecked on a holographic keyboard as she set up from the bed. "Calm down, Kiyone. I've opened up a direct hyperspace portal for you into my lab. You'll enter it as soon as you're in range. I'm plucking the medical data off of Yagami right now. I'll be ready."

***

April 29th, 2001.

Juntendo University Nerima Hospital – Nerima, Tokyo. 6:00 AM.

Akane woke up with a stir as her eyes fluttered open inside the dark hospital room. She lifted her head off of Kasumi's hand, which she'd held on to till she had fallen asleep. She turned around and saw Ryoga standing behind her, a soulless, vapid look on his face. His right arm was held in a sling.

She jumped up and grabbed him in a hug. "Ryoga! I'm so glad you're here."

He didn't hug her back with the same fervor and avoided his eyes when she looked at his face. Akane reached up with her hands to cradle his cheeks.

"What's wrong? What happened to your arm?"

Ryoga wanted to bite his tongue off. He looked over at Kasumi lying peacefully on the inclined hospital bed. She had an IV with several different drips connect to her and tubes coming out of her nostrils. He wondered if he would be as peaceful if he switched places with her.

Jackson came into the room after he had listened in and waited outside the unclosed door. He had followed Ryoga around the hospital. "I'm afraid something bad has happened, Akane-san. Your husband was shot in the shoulder at your home and both Ranma and Nabiki Tendo have gone missing."

Akane felt her knees go weak and she was caught by Ryoga. "What?"

"Your husband told us what happened and I have some guys at your home right now, investigating," Jackson said, nodding gravely.

Ryoga stayed silent, keeping his back turned to Jackson as he continued explaining.

"There was blood trailed everywhere in the kitchen. No weapon, no shell casings. No reports of gunfire by the neighbors. We have no idea how it could've happened, but your husband says they were ambushed." Jackson sighed and pulled out his phone. He looked at all the calls he made to Ranma's phone, none of them had made it through.

Akane covered her mouth with her hand and sat down. This morning was like waking up from a bad dream to a living nightmare. "And my sister?"

Jackson shook his head. "No clue. We have the entire Public Safety Commission and the police on alert."

-------------------

Jackson cursed as he ended his call from Kurosawa. The Marine officer had just arrived back from Okinawa at Narita Airport. He grabbed his coffee cup from the machine dispenser in the hospital's hallway. His hands brushed over his very large Desert Eagle pistol, latched on a strong side holster outside of his hip.

That's one more pistol in the enemy's hands, he bitterly thought. His Walther PPK was snatched by the punks that he had pursued and was outnumbered by. When Ryoga had come into the hospital in the middle of the night with a ghastly story to tell, Jackson took no chances and sent the National Police's Special Assault Team to the Tendo Home to secure it. An elite unit of SAT men assigned to the Tokyo region converged on the house to find nothing but a mess.

He looked at his smart phone again and tried to trace Ranma's location with his GPS tracker. It returned a blank for the umpteenth time. He sighed in frustration, wondering how that was possible.

All of the MaxFor phones were sophisticated pieces. Fancy phones with radio and location tracking devices built in. They were purposefully made to never be able to be turned off. Ranma's last traced signal was from the Tendo residence and then it had disappeared, like a blinking dot on a radar screen.

Jackson sat down on a bench and sipped his coffee, keeping an eye close to the door of Kasumi's room. He wanted to leave that family alone, but at the same time he was obligated to protect them.

"Captain, where the hell are you?"

***

April 29th, 2001.

Holographic Hospital Simulation #226 – Hakubi Lab. 6:02 AM.

Ranma snapped up from her bed, gasping huge lung fulls of precious air. She clutched her chest and winced as the pain of several needles in her arms and catheter tubes going through her nose made their sharp presence known. Her heavy, pained breathing was almost uncontrollable as her body instinctually forced dizzying heaves, in and out.

Washu hopped and skipped into the room in a white nurse dress with a little cap on her red head with the Red Cross symbol on it. She came over and tickled Ranma on the nose and yanked the catheter tubes painfully out of her nostrils.

"Ow!" Ranma screeched.

"Don't worry! It's good that it hurts because that means you're alive and kicking!" Washu pulled up a clipboard with a chart on it, one of her many fun but accurately placed props. "You sure did get close to death, I don't know if the timing was coincidence or if you're the luckiest guy- Er, gal, on the planet. Maybe the universe!"

Ranma looked around. It looked like a private hospital room with antiseptic white walls, EKG monitors at her side, a sink for the nurses, and a table with a fresh bouquet of roses in a vase. She had no idea how she got here.

She looked down. She had no idea why she was female and what the hell was going on. Even the time on the wall was mortifyingly confusing.

Washu whistled out the open door. "Hey Kiyone, your girlfriend is awake!"

Ranma finally started to think straight again and he cleared his mind to get some answers. He remembered the little girl in front of him from his visit to the Masaki Mountains. "Washu-chan, right? What's going on?"

"I'll explain in a minute. I hope you don't mind what I did to your hair, it's a bit more vibrant but I thought it was a fabulous match for my hair." Washu pulled out a handheld mirror for Ranma to see.

Kiyone walked in through the door with baggy eyes and her jaw dropped at the same time as Ranma's when they both got a look at Ranma's new red hair.

"What did you do?!" both of them yelled, simultaneously.

"Hey, it's the least you could let me do since I saved your life," Washu said. She hmphed indignantly. She smiled with one eye closed as she eyed Ranma's reaction. She laughed mentally, waving a silver rod behind her back. It was the same one she had used on Ranma the first time she met him. "I found the most interesting thing while looking over your gene sequence. Your female body revealed a recessive gene for your hair, resulting in your potential to be a redhead. Unfortunately I had a minor little bug in my systems that accidentally triggered it and altered your gene sequence. Nothing big, these viruses happen all the time. It looks great on you, don't worry. You'll have black hair again when you turn back to a boy."

The cosmetic novelty wore off quickly for Kiyone and she pulled up a chair to sit next to him for more important matters. "Do you remember what happened, Ranma? Do you know why you're here?"

Ranma sighed as she brushed her new do, figuring it could be fixed later. "No, I have no idea why I'm here. I don't know why I'm in a hospital. The last thing I remember was calling you and sitting in the room with Nabiki and Ryoga."

Kiyone looked at Washu who was nodding sagely.

"I thought this might happen. He's lost some of his memory. Not a lot, but enough it seems that he can't remember who did this."

"I can't believe this," Kiyone replied.

"Hello?" Ranma lifted his arms and hands in question. "Can someone tell me what's going on here?"

Washu tapped Kiyone's shoulder. "It's very possible he can have total recall at any time. It might take something traumatic to bring it back, but even I can't be completely sure when it comes to working the brain."

Ranma stared at both the other women, lost in the conversation they were holding concerning him. Kiyone took a deep breath and sighed, she was going to give her best shot to explain what happened to him.

---------------------

Ranma frowned as he pulled a shirt over his head, now changed back to his male form. He had taken a much needed shower and was glad to see his hair did change back to black in the warm water. His protests to Washu were cut short as she said she would trade his old hair color back if he was willing to give back the life she had saved. He grumbled as it was a self-centered, if playfully fawned, selfish request. At least the red hair looked right on his cursed form, it looked amazingly natural to see it on his female head when seen through the mirror. He didn't know why it felt so comfortable despite being unfamiliar.

His mind spun incredibly as the story kept repeating itself in his head. It was like being told a fictional story to a chapter of his life. He found it hard to believe that he was dead when Kiyone brought him in and Washu's advanced technology managed to revive him.

The only remaining physical proof that it had happened at all was a deformed .380 slug that was pulled out of his lungs, flooding them and denying his brain oxygen to live. Washu jokingly said he had a fresh start on his health since his old lungs were tainted with tar from heavy chain smoking this past year. And in the quest to save his brain she had conveniently wiped out the annoying pocket of his psyche that had been hardwired into fearing cats. Apparently the Neko-ken was no more.

Ranma was led out of the lab by Washu and looked around in surprise again as he found himself inside the Masaki living room. He turned around and looked at the closet door connected to the stairs. Alien tech was amazing.

He saw Kiyone and Mihoshi passed out on the couch. Washu told him they were both up all night, waiting anxiously in the lab to monitor his condition. Mihoshi fell asleep earlier and Kiyone had done the same only after she had seen Ranma's face after he had awakened.

Ranma saw the rest of the household up and about, waving and greeting him as they gathered around the dining table for breakfast. He went over to Kiyone's prone form and crouched in front of her to stroke her cheek with his hand.

Kiyone slowly lifted her eyes open, breathing softly as she saw Ranma's male face in front of her.

"You okay?" she softly asked.

"I'm doing good, thanks to you." He smiled, gently running his hand through her long hair.

Kiyone shook her head lightly. "Don't thank me, thank Washu. She was up all night reviving you."

Ranma nodded. "So were you."

He took a moment to stare into her eyes and then dipped his head in to give her a kiss. She returned it lovingly, closing her eyes as she savored his lips.

When they released each other a crowd of cheers erupted from the bright faces of the rest of the household from the dining table.

"Wow, way to go Kiyone!" Ryoko whistled, pumping her arm into the air victoriously.

"That's so romantic!" Sasami squealed with her hands on the side of her face.

"Myaaaah!"

Katsuhito and Nobuyuki cackled like old men, amused.

"Hey, you owe me one too!" Washu yelped.

Tenchi and Ayeka chuckled to themselves, smiling at their show of affection.

Even Mihoshi peeped an eye open from the adjacent couch, a tired grin curling on her face. "Oh, you two are soooo cute. I'm jealous!"

Ranma looked behind at all the commotion and bit back a laugh of his own. He looked back at Kiyone unembarrassed and pecked another kiss on her lips. "I'm going to have breakfast."

"Wake me in an hour," Kiyone whispered. She snuggle herself warmly in the sofa pillow and went back to sleep, a big smile plastered on her features.

***

April 29th, 2001.

46th floor, JNSA Headquarters – Tokyo, Japan. 9:30 AM.

Ranma walked towards Jackson and gave him a handshake with a firm smack. Kurosawa pat his back as they all clutched in tight, embracing Ranma's safe return.

"Damn good to see the both of you," Ranma said.

Jackson slapped him on the back as he towered over him with his height. "Glad to see you're still alive, we feared the worst."

Kurosawa looked at him with arms crossed and a twinkle in his eye. "How many firefights you go through this week, Saotome?".

Ranma pretended to fall back from exhaustion and picked himself back up, laughing. "Apparently not enough." He looked at Jackson, eyebrow raised. "No one can beat me, I'll have you know."

Takayama came up to them as well, greeting his second-in-command for his safe return. He regarded the young, teal haired woman next to him with a visitor's badge attached to her front.

Ranma introduced her to the others. "Sorry guys, this is Lieutenant Detective Kiyone Makibi. She's my undercover and she's going to help out with today's agenda."

Kurosawa looked at her in surprise. "A lieutenant? This chick?"

Kiyone scowled. "I was a sergeant. Ranma had my department brevet me for the case."

Takayama shook her hand and winked at Ranma. "And calling you by your first name only, too? Not Captain?"

Both Kiyone and Ranma blushed. Kiyone covered her face with her hands and then wiped her eyes, tired from getting little sleep.

"I'm going to the bathroom and freshen up," Kiyone meekly said.

"We'll be waiting over there in the briefing room," Ranma replied.

When Kiyone went around the corner and disappeared into the restroom Kurosawa whistled appreciatively. Ranma gave him a funny look.

"You're fucking her, aren't you?" Kurosawa asked.

Jackson snickered. "That's who you've been working with? Looks better than the picture in her file."

"Give it a rest, guys." Ranma felt like freshening up too.

"Hey, didn't you say she's the one who's in Okayama for the weekend? That she was coming back today?" Jackson asked.

Kurosawa was also curious. "I remember that being mentioned. How'd you guys come together? Were you in Okayama with her?"

Ranma shook his head, unable to come up with an excuse.

"And you said you were shot too, but I just remembered we had our vests taken away yesterday," Jackson said.

"I uh...had a spare." Sweat drops started to form on Ranma's head.

Takayama bellowed from inside the meeting room. "Will you guys get your ass in here, already?"

Kiyone walked back out to see them scurrying into the room. She was still drying her hands with a paper towel. "Boys, boys, boys."

---------------------

Ranma ran over the layout and the plan one last time as it was sprawled over the rear cargo floor of his JNSA issued Chevy Tahoe. The wall to Furinkan High School overlooked him.

Kiyone was at his side under the rear lift gate, dressed in teacher garb with jeans and sneakers to move easily and a light jacket to conceal her handcuffs and Sig Sauer P226 in a holster.

Kurosawa was in contact with a sub-vocal communicator, walking around the perimeter with only a pistol in plain clothes to make his way around the back entrance.

Jackson was by a van on the other end of the school gate, covered by the wall, conversing with several men in plainclothes. They were SAT operators specifically dressed low key to provide support without causing panic by appearing in full tactical gear.

"So do you get everything?" Ranma asked. He pointed out to several points on the blueprints to the Furinkan High School building. "You secure the faculty office, subdue any insiders they may have. Me and Jackson are going to sweep my classroom and Yukado Shiro's room and apprehend him."

"Any plans on what you're going to do with him after?" Kiyone asked.

"Beat his fucking sources out him, that's what," Ranma said. "I need to get rid of these parasites first and then I'm going after the Oroshi-boss."

Jackson and Kurosawa both voiced their complaints through their sub-vocal earpieces. They were still adamantly opposed to busting a drug dealer before going to catch Ranma's attempted killer.

"I need to avenge my friends before myself." Ranma closed his eyes and thought of Kasumi. "Are you guys ready to go?"

Each person acknowledged their readiness and moved out. The SAT support stayed behind the gate while several others ran off to cover the rest of the outer perimeter in case someone tried to run out and escape. They were explicitly ordered to stay put unless absolutely ordered, gunfire be damned. Ranma, Kiyone, and Jackson casually walked into the grounds, making their way through the building to their assigned targets.

Kiyone went into the administrative front desk of the school first, flashing her badge at the lady who worked there. "Aomori-san, I need that intercom. Right now."

She was confused as to why Toshikawa-sensei was announcing she was a police officer. When Kiyone reached back and flashed the pistol in her holster, the lady complied. Kiyone took a hold of the microphone and ordered her to announce all the teachers to immediately gather in the faculty room at once.

-----------------

Ranma and Jackson hid in the hallways as they saw all the classroom doors slide open with murmuring teachers heading downstairs.

"All teachers, grounds keepers, and administrators. Please report to the front office immediately. You will be given further instructions," the PA announced again.

They waited a few minutes to let everyone make their way into the faculty offices and to give Kiyone a chance to do her part. Once the hallway cleared they ran out and stopped short of their target classrooms. Ranma took on his undercover homeroom, Jackson took Yukado Shiro's. Both were across from each other. They stepped in.

Ranma yelled first for Okuno's name and ran to his seat to get him on the ground. Confused and bewildered, Okuno was slammed to the floor with his hands tied to his back.

Jackson did the same as he entered his classroom and scanned the faces as he tried to recognize them from pictures he'd researched of Yukado Shiro. He saw the shocked teenager in the back of the room and raised his pistol, eliciting cries of panic from the students in the room. "You're under arrest! Don't move!"

Shiro's friend Taki kicked up and knocked Jackson's Desert Eagle out of his hands and he spun on his heel to give a roundhouse kick to his stomach, toppling him over. He yelled at his friend, "Get the hell out of here!"

Jackson watched as Yukado Shiro scampered out of the room, tripping over the desks of his classmates as he dove out. Jackson groaned and yanked Taki's feet from under him with a powerful swing and then planted a left hook right into his crotch with a sickening thud, right before he hit the ground. Taki's face turned several shades of purple and blue while the class collectively moaned and winced for him.

"Ranma, he's getting away!"

-----------------

Kiyone watched as the last of the school's roster of employees entered the cramped and crowded office. She leapt up and closed the door and locked it. She raised her pistol and badge. "This is a police raid! I want all of you to get down on your knees and put your hands on your head!"

Everyone except for Hinako Ninomiya looked surprised. Several of the female teachers fainted. A couple of the teachers looked pale and looked guiltily at each other. They knew who they were. They tried to jump out the windows.

"Stop!" Kiyone fired a warning shot and shattered a window, stopping them in their tracks.

One teacher, a chemistry teacher with a bald head, had managed to get his foot out. He was frozen in place, leg still in the air.

Kiyone jumped up on the desk and did a 360 to scan everyone. She saw the head principal in his office look at her nervously and then dashed to jump out his own window. She ran across the tables and jump kicked him from the side, knocking him away.

She pointed the muzzle down and pressed it against the principal's head. "Everyone's in a hurry to get out of here when they just came."

------------------

Ranma cuffed Okuno hard and dragged him out of the classroom easily without a hitch. He threw him on the floor again, onto his stomach.

Okuno cried out in pain. "What'd I do?"

"Shut the fuck up!" Ranma kicked him hard in the ribs and smacked his head. He pulled on his ears painfully and flipped him over. He punched him hard in the gut. "This is for Kasumi."

"Oof!" Okuno coughed and gasped for breath. "I don't know who the hell you are! Who's Kasumi?"

Ranma grabbed his chin and came down close to his face. "She's the sweet, bored, housewife you turned into an addict."

Okuno looked carefully at Ranma's face and it dawned on him with disbelief. "Keisuke?"

"That's Ranma." He smacked him across the face again.

The doors to one of the other classrooms smashed open and Ranma saw Yukado Shiro running out and away. He heard Jackson grunting from inside.

"Ranma, he's getting away!"

Ranma smacked Okuno again and gave chase. It wasn't far, as Yukado kept going upstairs and onto the school rooftop. He nearly tripped as he made out the door outside as he heard a single gunshot from downstairs. Kurosawa squawked into Ranma's earpiece and announced he was making his way to the faculty office.

Yukado ran to the edge of the rooftop and looked for an escape. It was way too high to jump and no way to climb down. He turned around and saw Ranma near the doorway, walking slowly towards him.

"Don't come any closer!" Yukado drew a black 5-shot revolver from his pocket.

Ranma drew his own Beretta and snapped on the laser sight. He looked at the revolver, it was the same kind he carried in his back pocket. "Put it down, you've got nowhere else to go."

"Who the hell are you?" Yukado demanded. His hands shook as he pointed the gun at Ranma's face.

Ranma stood in place and aimed the laser dot still on Yukado's upper lip. "I'm a police officer. I'm taking down your coke empire in Nerima, you little bastard."

Yukado laughed nervously. "Do you know who the hell I am? My cousin is Masa Hirotaki and he's a made man in the Oroshi group!"

Ranma took note of the name. "I don't give a shit, put it down, now! Don't make me do this!"

"You think a cop can just get away with this?" Yukado glanced around him nervously. He leaned back on the chain link fence barring him from falling over the edge and felt the breeze in his hair. "I got him to kill one of my lackeys for trying to set up his own drug connection in Okayama! You don't think he'll do the same to you if I get caught?"

"You what?" Ranma sighed in disbelief. That was one more murder solved. "They won't get to me, not before I kill them all first."

Yukado gulped. He tried to stretch his arms further, trying to aim with more intimidation if he could. The fear started to buckle his knees.

Ranma read the signs of apprehension on his body. He started walking closer to him. "It's over, kid. You try to shoot me, I'm going to hit you back and then some. Don't make this difficult, now put that gun down!"

"Don't move!" Yukado started whimpering and kept playing in his mind that he was going to pull the trigger. He saw Ranma and lost the resolve to shoot back with each closer step he took.

In a flash of panic and desperation, Yukado despaired with a solution that seemed too easy as it entered his mind.

Ranma held his breath sharply. He dropped his gun and rushed forward as Yukado aimed the revolver into his mouth.

---------------------

Kurosawa ran in a speedy crouch as he strafed through the halls and made his way into the faculty office, like the building plans had shown. He jumped in and saw Kiyone manhandling several teachers, clearly under control.

Kiyone gave him a thumbs up, flicking her bangs with her left hand. "I'm good here."

He nodded and ran up the stairs where he met Jackson, struggling to walk up as he stumbled in pain. "What happened to you?"

"Damn kid packed a hell of a punch," Jackson wheezed. The kid had to be a trained martial artist. That kick to his stomach was crippling.

Kurosawa tsked and grabbed Jackson by the shoulder. They both hobbled up to the rooftop to hear Ranma and someone else exchanging angry words. They both made it to the rooftop and came outside to see Ranma suddenly rush after a teenager with blonde hair, with a small revolver stuck in his mouth.

Ranma screamed. "Nooo!"

When Yukado pulled the trigger his eyes were blank and soulless, completely unaware of how serious the last decision of his life would be. It was a question onto its own, one that would never be answered as a muzzle flash briefly illuminated the dark cavern of his mouth. Those same vacant eyes went cross as a flap of his scalp grotesquely pitched sideways over his left ear.

All three of the men watched as all too quickly the boy's body dropped without theatrics, without any flailing Hollywood drama. Yukado's form was supported by the fence, keeping his body upright and legs splayed. Both of his nostrils ran twin faucets of blood, pumping violently through the blown nasal cavity caused by the bullet.

Ranma turned away, holstering his pistol. "Call the coroner."

-------------------

A massive free-for-all of police cars blocked away screaming parents and angry students as Ranma pulled his Chevy away from the melee. Kiyone sat at his side with Jackson and Kurosawa in the backseat.

"I'm going to drop you off so you can go back to Okayama," Ranma said to Kiyone.

She nodded. There was still a lot of work to be done that she had suddenly left behind before finishing and she now had to process another murder solved as it was revealed before Yukado Shiro's suicide. All the teachers she had round up turned out to be useful after all. The ones who tried to escape were all under the Yakuza payroll to keep their mouths shut.

"Now it's time to find your killer?" Kurosawa asked.

"We're going to raid the Oroshi group, ASAP. We'll work it from there. The boss for the Tokyo area is the chief of a steel mill right here in Nerima. They specialize in textiles and light industry for a business front."

He turned around to look at Jackson, who was busy on a laptop. "Any word on Nabiki?"

Jackson shook his head. "No sign. Either she's dead or she's fled somewhere. I doubt she kept any money in accounts under her real name. Intel is still working on it."

"Can't we shut down the airports?"

Kurosawa laughed. "For one fuckin' bitch? No way. There's an alert with her face posted at all airport security, even with that all that bitch has to do is put on a disguise or better yet go to Korea on a ferry and fly from there."

"Yep," Jackson added, agreeing with Kurosawa. "Let the intelligence department handle this. We need to wait this one out."

***

April 28th, 2001.

JR Kyushu Ferries – Fukuoka, Japan. 11:55 AM.

Nabiki stepped aboard the hydrofoil with her simple roll-on luggage bag. She had big sunglasses on and a large straw hat on her head. She presented her ticket to an attendant.

"Thank you, enjoy your ride."

There wasn't an outdoor deck to this boat. Nabiki made her way to an assigned seat in the corner and guarded herself carefully. She hugged her purse close to her as she sipped a can of coffee, intent on staying awake for the entire ride to the port city of Busan, South Korea.

"This is your Captain speaking," the loudspeakers announced scratchily. "We will be departing in 35 minutes."

Nabiki sighed and rubbed her temples. She discreetly checked through her large purse to double check everything she needed.

There were her first-class tickets to Los Angeles International Airport on a non-stop flight scheduled within two hours of her expected arrival time from the boat ride.

There was an envelope with ten thousand US dollars, cold hard currency for immediate use. There was more to pull out later as this would suffice her well enough for a sustained period of time.

Her US passport was a genuine forgery with her picture on it and an easy to remember first name chosen by the contracted couriers who had made it. Naomi Hibiki. The last name she had specified.

And underneath it all, beneath the wallet, feminine toiletries and some obligatory makeup, was a black pistol. The suppressor was still attached. Nabiki wasn't about to let someone screw it up for after she'd come this far. Not until she was on that plane, safely on her way to America. Before she went to the airport she was going to dump it in a trashcan somewhere where it would never be found again.

She pulled out one last item, a pocketbook. She didn't conceal it out of view and opened it up out of her purse, where others could see. It contained pictures of her family.

Nabiki sighed as she flipped through them, painfully flicking through the faces and memories. She closed it and kissed the tip of her fingers, pressing them to the leather-bound cover.

***

April 29th, 2001.

Shindo Metal Works – Nerima, Tokyo. 1:30 PM.

"Aniki, we finished loading up! The drivers are already taking the weapons out on their routes."

Ichiro Itoh wracked his brain and then nodded weakly at his underling. He barely managed any sleep the night before and his resources were taxed as he struggled for a way to get out of this.

There was no more coup d'etat or the possibility of controlling the Oroshi Empire. No more grand plans to overtake the Yamaguchi-gumi and the rest of Japan. He turned around and saw his men scattering about on the grounds, marking their escape and getaway before imminent doom. His own bodyguards and loyal team of gangsters were in the steel mill offices behind him, armed to the teeth. Their faces flashed through his head, memories of watching them grow older through the years and being invited to some of their weddings and the birthdays of their children. All of them had started with him or under him before they were hardened punks, swearing to protect him and fight till their deaths. He certainly hoped that wouldn't be the case.

Kidnapping Nabiki Tendo had been a mistake. He didn't know how, but the same people who had ruined his plans had been tracking her. The arrogant woman wasn't as impermeable as she thought she was, but his own foolish attempt to extort her had led them straight to Mr. Joshua.

And Mr. Joshua was the best man he had, the only reason Itoh was one step ahead of the game with his life intact. Now that the South African was dead, Itoh held no grand delusions that he could carry on with anything at all. His responsibility was to break free with what he had, take the men that were loyal with him and then start anew with a fresh base. He had to disappear and survive. He had a responsibility to uphold amidst his failed gamble.

His thoughts were disrupted as a loud bang erupted from behind him. Shots started ringing out along with the shouts of his men followed by several more explosions. He turning back to face the railing and yelled of his men to come up, when a bright flash and explosive percussion blasted from behind him. Itoh dropped to the ground, clutching his ears. Another set of bright explosions blinded his sight and he heard the panicked clamor of his men.

------------------

"Once we get up to those offices, Jackson and I will cycle in as entry men and clear the rooms with flashbangs. You stay behind and cover us as the rear guard."

Ranma nodded as Kurosawa instructed him. They looked at some basic plans for the steel mill grounds, the only ones they could muster in a short amount of time. They were overlaid in the rear cargo bay of Ranma's Chevy, once again. He listened carefully as both Jackson and Kurosawa plotted their movements on the map. These two were skilled close quarter combat specialists, the masters of tactical raiding. Ranma had some exposure to the choreography and discipline but it was a whole different animal to see it being discussed with these two. It wasn't the martial artist's caveat.

Jackson tossed Ranma some skiing goggles. "Wear that in case the banger smoke and dust blinds you. We're going in hard and we're going in fast."

Kurosawa cocked back the T-handle of his suppressed AR-rifle. He was decked out in a full tactical vest with several pouches for magazines and a row of MK-84 stun grenades at his torso for easy reach. Jackson had something similar, but with the items placed differently to his preference. His MP5SD was held in the crook of his arm with the sling secured to an attachment on his vest.

Ranma wore a thick armored vest and his G36K, looking relatively unprepared in comparison. They all still had their sub-vocal earpieces in place to communicate with each other.

"All right, I'll take point," Kurosawa said. "Let's go."

The three men ran into the compound from their hidden spot behind the concrete walled perimeter of the steel mill. They avoided detection with ease as the number of obstacles and machines in the place made it easy to duck and hide at a moment's notice. The plant was mostly automated with a few workers who were in the control center and a select few on the grounds observing the operations.

Further into the steel jungle, the three JNSA men halted behind a gigantic hydraulic press. It whirred and hissed with steam as they ran around it.

The office was in front, a raised platform warehouse with rooms inline and filled with several men. The windows revealed them walking about with a full range of small arms on them. Ranma looked over to several empty storage lots on the side, where pallets of boxes were being driven out.

"Those could be the guns we're looking for," Ranma said.

Kurosawa nodded. "We need to move, now."

They approached the office setup from the rear and went up a construction ramp as quietly as they could. Kurosawa held on to the door handle with a flashbang in hand. He crouched against the sill and counted down his fingers with his free hands. Three, two, one...

The pin on the first grenade was pulled and exploded halfway into the room as the men stared at the black cylindrical device. Kurosawa swung the door wide open for Jackson to run in and he took down two men standing with M4 carbines in their hands.

Kurosawa came in right behind him and ran for the next door where Jackson had his hand on the knob with a flashbang in the other. Jackson yanked the pin with his teeth and tossed it in, waiting for it to erupt before he opened the door for Kurosawa to breach in.

Ranma came in and kept his rifle aimed at the entrance, backpedaling his steps as the rest of his team kept pushing forward. Kurosawa double tapped two more men with shots sent downrange, center mass to the chest. He quickly repeated the same tactical entry at the next door by setting up Jackson to enter the next room.

The smoke from the discarded grenades triggered the fire alarm, causing the sprinklers to go off. Ranma looked up as she followed the men into the second room and felt the curse change his body and wiped away the goggles for water. Now female, the armor vest she had worn around her felt loose and clumsy. She struggled to unlatch the Velcro and adjust the fit. Right as she finished fiddling with her vest a man with a MAC-10 came in from the warehouse entry. Ranma saw him through the opened doors and took aim, firing three rounds center mass.

Jackson ran up behind them with a prisoner being pushed in front. It was Itoh, bagged with a black sack around his head and a plastic zip-tie securing his wrists behind his back. Kurosawa ran in front of Ranma and turned around to motion her to follow him. He did a double take as he looked up at the running sprinklers and Ranma's fiery red hair. Jackson kicked her from behind and yelled at her to keep moving.

Before he peeked his head out the door Kurosawa exchanged the magazine on his rifle for a fresh one. It was still full with 26 rounds, but it was a trained tactic. He sidestepped, crouched and hunched low, slicing the pie around the corner with his rifle at ready. No one was waiting for him around the elevated ramp and he signaled it was clear to both Ranma and Jackson with hand motions.

The three and their prisoner made it down the platform and saw most of the people in the mill running out. Itoh was unable to see that the rest of his men turning tail and running like cowards. Only his dead bodyguards were loyal enough to stick around and fight back.

Ranma took the opportunity to jump up high, on the roof of the warehouse. It gave her a clear, unobstructed view of the entire steel mill. All the trucks had gotten away and the few men left running on foot had abandoned their weapons on the ground.

Both Jackson and Kurosawa gawked as she jumped back down from several stories up, cushioned the land with her knees. "We're in the clear. Everyone else bugged out."

"You just leapt up that building and jumped back down," Kurosawa said. "How the hell did you do that?"

"When the hell did you dye your hair?" Jackson asked. "It was black when you were a guy just now."

Ranma winced. "Don't worry about it." She yanked the cover off of Itoh's head. He was still reeling from the blinding light of the stun grenades. "Are you Itoh, Ichino?"

Itoh wanted to desperately rub his eyes but all he could do was squeeze them rapidly to relieve the pain. "I am. Who the hell are you?"

Ranma swept his feet from under him as she pulled out her thermos to change back into a guy. Itoh groaned in pain and looked up to see the outlines of two men and a woman looking down on him. It was terrifying to see the blurred outlines of armed gunmen hanging over him.

"Who are you?" Itoh murmured. His ears were aching from the flashbang and a high pitched squeal deafened all background noise.

Kurosawa searched his pockets and his body thoroughly for any hidden weapons. He pulled out Itoh's wallet and read through the contents. "We're asking the fucking questions, you understand?"

"My men...what have you done with them?" Itoh asked.

"The ones in the office?" Kurosawa lifted a brow. "Dead."

Itoh closed his eyes. "All of them?"

"They were all armed," Jackson said.

"Who did you send to the Tendo Dojo and where is Nabiki Tendo?" Ranma took a knee and had the barrel of her rifle poking Itoh in the ribs.

"I have no idea what you are talking about." Itoh looked to the side and spat on the ground. He thought of the men and ran through each of their wives and kids' names. It was all over.

"I wouldn't be acting so tough right now you old coot. Mr. Joshua worked for you, right? I gave that asshole a quick death for what he tried to do to me and my friends." Ranma grabbed his chin and squeezed enough to make it hurt. "Guess what I'm going to do to you since one of your men was actually successful in almost killing me last night?

"Spare me the tough cop routine! And I still don't know what the hell you're talking about, son! I've never seen you before in my life! Who the hell are you?"

"The name's Ranma Saotome. You attacked my friends. You tried to kill me."

Itoh matched his eyes. "You're the son of a bitch who killed all my men, huh? I sent them to kidnap Tendo and her family happened to be there with her. After that, you came in. I didn't do anything else."

Itoh received a series of rough smacks and kicks to the side by all three standing men.

"Then how the hell do you explain me getting shot at the Tendo home, huh?" Ranma screamed.

"Don't think for a second you can intimidate me! Even if you kill me!" Itoh bellowed, trying to catch his breath from his aching ribs. "After you took out my hired specialist I've been busy trying to save the rest of my men! On top of that I have a rogue underling who's taken a chunk of my weapons and is out in the open. I didn't have the resources or the interest to sending my men into the lion's den again to shoot a person I don't even know!"

Jackson looked up at Ranma, who was looking at a puzzled Kurosawa. The explanation was unsettlingly logical.

Ranma gulped. It really didn't make any sense for the syndicate to retaliate at a place where they most likely knew was being guarded. The holes in his memory also tightened on Ranma's chest. It was still fuzzy, but he felt something there. But it wasn't enough to dispel the notion that it was still the most likely thing that happened.

"Maybe it was your rogue men," Ranma said. "Maybe they were following your orders?"

"How the hell would I know," Itoh replied. He was dragged back onto his feet, his wrists still tightly bound together with plastic clips. "You can do me the favor of killing them for me since you killed everyone else I fucking cared about, you sons-of-bitches."

"So you really do have a group of men who were under you that went astray?" Kurosawa asked.

"I would've killed them first before even bothering with getting back at whoever the hell you guys are. They shot up those casino parlors in Shinjuku a couple of nights ago. They're the reasons everything got screwed up."

Ranma's eyes grew wide. "Awful mouthy, aren't you? I thought you Yakuza were honor bound to the brotherhood?"

Itoh looked up at his empty office up above. "I have no more."

"Give us a name," Jackson asked.

"Masa Hirotaki."

"And the men in those trucks who tore ass out of here. Who were they?" Kurosawa asked.

Itoh huffed. "No dice. I'm not ratting out my faithful survivors."

Ranma tsked. "You're making it a whole lot harder on yourself. And I'm not even going to get started on how much more painful."

"You can't get me. I just gave you Masa's name to settle a vendetta. My other men know enough that I'm captured and gone forever."

"You just have to do this the hard way, don't you," Ranma growled.

Ranma grabbed one of Itoh's arms with Kurosawa securing the other and started walking him out.

Itoh chuckled. "You can kill me, but the others won't stop. That's one thing we're good at, we never forget our enemies. That's where Tendo paid for it. Even her friend, that okonomiyaki chef."

Ranma halted abruptly and looked at Itoh like a hawk locked down on its prey. "You did that?"

"You're a cop or something, aren't you? You that surprised us Yakuza would do such a thing?" Itoh rolled his eyes and ignored Ranma's glare.

Ranma ground his teeth as his ears started to pulsate.

Jackson and Kurosawa nearly yelped in surprise as Ranma forcefully dragged Itoh back into the steel mill. Itoh grunted his disapproval in being handled roughly, resigned to whatever cheap punches and kicks he was going to be subjected to next.

To the surprise of everyone else, Ranma scooped Itoh's body into his arms and leapt up onto a machine press. He dumped Itoh's body into a large metal tub, as big as a swimming pool. It was a horizontal extruder, meant for pressing hot softened metal into many pieces of thinner rods of raw steel. It was like one big ram rod to make metal spaghetti.

"Ranma what the hell are you doing!" Kurosawa yelled.

Ignoring all the yells, Ranma leapt to another platform and started mashing down buttons until the whole assembly started up. The hydraulic arms of the press came to life and started inching forward to compress the empty cavity where Itoh was trapped. Ranma leapt back in time to see Itoh struggling, unable to use his arms to jump up and hoist himself out.

"Not afraid of death, huh?" Ranma said. "We'll see about that."

"Don't do this! We have to take him in!" Jackson yelled at Ranma.

"But this is so much quicker than hours and hours of interrogating that'll probably get us nothing from a veteran gangster like this guy," Ranma replied. He shrugged his shoulders, his expression cold.

Itoh scrambled around in his shrinking box, staring at the metal wall in front of him inching towards him. He saw Ranma from above, standing next to the control panel. "You're going to kill a restrained, unarmed man, in a steel press? How are you going to get away with that one!"

"I'll think about it while they're cleaning up what's left of you," Ranma said. His arms were crossed.

Jackson bit his fingers as he saw everything unfold. He saw the icy stare in Ranma's eyes and the calm collected look on Kurosawa's features. He shook Kurosawa frantically. "Sir, we have to stop him! We can't let him kill an unarmed prisoner!"

Kurosawa sighed and shook his head. "He's the boss. What are you going to do, shoot him?"

Jackson groaned and looked back up at Ranma. "Captain! Stop this right now!"

"You shut your goddamn mouth Jackson!" Ranma shouted back. He started breathing heavily and looked back down.

Itoh stayed silent the whole time, waiting for this charade to stop. He glanced around and noticed the slow press was deceptively so, since the first time he had checked his space had shrunk by half. The illusion was frighteningly novel to his senses and the fear of claustrophobia started to choke him up.

"Alright, you've made your damn point with the tough cop thing," Itoh stammered.

"Tell me what you know," Ranma calmly replied.

"You really going to kill an unarmed man?"

"As long as he isn't an innocent man."

The phenomenon of the shrinking walls fully engrossed Itoh's mind at this point. The scraping sound of metal on metal as it silently roared closer to him shredded his composure even further. "I told you I don't know anything about who shot you."

"Maybe you're lying?" Ranma replied flatly.

"Maybe it was Masa!" Itoh yelped. He got up and tried to helplessly budge his shoulder against the moving wall and slow it down with his feet planted on the ground.

Ranma's eyes narrowed. "And how about your men in the trucks who drove away from here? Where are they going?"

Itoh whimpered. "I don't know! They were going to make up their own groups and come back to me when things settled down in the city again! I sent them out on their own for their own safety!"

"That's not good enough for me!"

The walls were soon going to be close enough for Itoh to brace with his leg up. "That's all I know, damn it!"

Ranma smashed the control panel with an axe-kick.

Jackson jumped up and tried to climb up to reach him."You can't do this, Ranma!"

Mouth agape, Ranma casually made his way down onto the moving block of the press. He crouched down. "Then how about blasting my best friend with a shotgun, you piece of shit? What the hell did you do that for?"

Itoh started blubbering and buckled his knee against the unstoppable force. "She was Nabiki's friend, I didn't know she was your friend. I don't even know you!"

"Well now you know what it's like to be a victim, like Ucchan was!" And Tofu, Kasumi, Ryoga...and Akane.

"Oh god, please!" Itoh sobbed and hyperventilated. "I'm sorry! I don't want to die like this! God, help!"

Jackson just barely managed to grab a hold of the awkward platform, above from the machinery where Ranma was standing on. "Don't be like him, Captain! We're the good guys!"

Ranma continued to ignore him. The walls of the press were close enough to hop across from the top edges.

Jackson's eyes started tearing up. "I'm your partner, goddamn it! Listen to me!"

Ranma's ear's perked. He reached down and yanked up Itoh by the neck and bolted up. The metal press clamped shut just as Itoh's feet cleared the top. Ranma dropped Itoh back down on his face as a small crease of his pant leg was caught and pinched at the bottom.

Jackson took a seat on the platform, wiping his brow and breathing a sigh of relief. Kurosawa climbed up and sat down with his elbow on Jackson's shoulder.

"I'm impressed with both of you," Kurosawa said. He looked back and forth between Ranma and Jackson.

Ranma flipped over the sobbing, simpering Itoh over onto his back and crouched back down to get closer to his face. He looked at him for a moment, his glare still rock solid.

"I want you to know," Ranma started. "For the rest of your life when you see my face, I'm the person you begged for your life like the people you terrorized."

As a grown man, he couldn't remember the last time he curled his body in a fetal position. Itoh shut his eyes and wept freely.

***

April 29th, 2001.

Juntendo University Nerima Hospital – Nerima, Tokyo. 2:30 PM.

Akane handed a can of iced tea to the plainclothes police officer guarding the door to Kasumi's room. He accepted with a slight bow and a grateful smile.

"Is your father doing well, miss?" the officer asked.

Akane nodded. She shied her face away a bit to cover the dark, tired circles around her eyes. "He's doing just fine. My father's best friend and his wife are with him." She remembered the special plain clothed officer who guarded her father's room. "Your friend asked to say 'hi' by the way."

He smiled. "Thank you."

Akane bowed slightly and entered the room. The ambient noise from outside was well damped by the door and walls, allowing a comfortable solitude inside the darkened room for Kasumi. The multi-layered curtains were drawn and closed together tightly and all the lights were off, with only the soft glow of the LEDs on the medical apparatuses barely illuminating the room. Akane sat on a sofa next to the bed that had been brought in especially by the hospital staff. Akane had briefly wondered if hospitals were ever so accommodating.

She looked at her oldest sister's prone form. Kasumi was knocked out with powerful sedatives and was expected to sleep well into the day. Her gunshot wound was cleaned and stitched up expertly by the surgeons. Gauze wrapping covering an entire side of her collarbone was all that was left.

Akane leaned back on the sofa and lolled her head towards the armrests on the edge. She pulled out her cell phone and tried dialing for Ryoga again. It went straight to voicemail. The same thing it had done for the past few hours. She grabbed a spare hospital blanket crumpled on the side of the sofa and bit into it with her mouth in frustration. She wanted to scream, but instead she let out a pained moan, muffled by the blanket. Between her family in the hospital, her missing sister, her dead brother in law, missing husband, and Ranma's disappearance, Akane was starting to unravel. Nothing in the past 24 hours made any sense to her or was looking to made sense of. It felt like a cruel joke being played in her head.

The doorjamb clicked open as the handle was turned and Akane shielded her bloodshot eyes from the bright fluorescent light flooding in from the hallway. A figure came in and closed the door quickly, noticing Akane's apparent discomfort.

"Akane?"

She nearly froze at the voice. Her throat felt coarse and she felt her tears threatening to cascade. She lifted her face and quickly adjusted to the silhouette, her eyes immediately dawning onto a pigtail. "Ranma!"

Ranma nearly fell back as he received Akane's strong embrace. She jumped up into his arms and her head fell right into his chest, her tears soaking into his shirt.

"I was so worried about!" Akane kept shaking her head back and forth and lightly pounded on his chest with her fists, bawling. "I thought they had gotten to you or-or-"

"Shh...it's okay, Akane." Ranma stroked her hair and hugged her in closer. "I'm right here."

"Oh god, I'm so glad you're okay," Akane continued. Her soft weeping continued and she rocked her body back and forth like a baby with her arms wrapped around Ranma.

Both of them fell back on the sofa, exhausted physically and emotionally. Akane continued to sob into Ranma's chest and they spent some time in each other's embrace. They were closely intertwined, almost like lovers.

The minutes passed and Akane finally calmed down.

"They didn't hurt you at all?" Ranma said.

"No, I was just pushed around a bit. Nothing like Kasumi-neechan or Ryoga," she whispered.

"Are you sure?" Ranma asked worriedly. "Did they check you up?"

"Yes, I'm fine," Akane said, her eyes closed. She snuggled her forehead comfortably against Ranma's chin.

"Have the guards been good to you? Jackson told me he pulled them from Tokyo police's elite Special Action Team."

Akane chuckled. "Yes, they're very kind too," she said softly.

"How's your father?"

"Your parents are with him, he's doing just fine. The doctors say he's had a miraculous recovery. He'll make a full recovery soon."

Ranma made a mental note to avoid his parents until this fiasco was finished with. "Your sister? How's she?"

"Which one? You know anything about Nabiki?"

"Nabiki has disappeared. No one knows where she is. Maybe even out of the country. How's Kasumi?"

Akane sighed. "She's fine now. I'm afraid of how she'll be when she's awake."

Ranma gingerly stroked the side of Akane's cheek."That's why you're here for her, right?"

Akane nodded, her tear streaks wiped away by Ranma's hands.

"And your husband, where's he?"

"Ryoga's gone. You heard what happened to him right?"

Ranma nodded. "I heard about him getting shot. I want to talk to him, find out more about what happened to him and me."

"He got lost. His GPS is on the table over there. He must have been stressed out and forgot it. And you know what it's like to find Ryoga when he's lost."

"Yeah." Ranma groaned. "The only one who can find him is himself when he shows up again."

They laid together on the couch for a little longer, comfortable in each other's silence. Ranma finally got up and brushed a hand through Akane's hair as she sat upright. He stepped back towards the door.

"Where are you going?" Akane asked.

"I need to go. There's still a lot of work that needs to be done."

"Can't you stay here a little longer? Please?"

Ranma shook his head softly, his brows soft and relaxed. "I'm sorry. I need to go."

He reached for the door handle and turned it until it clicked before he was interrupted.

"I love you," Akane blurted.

Ranma swiveled around and let the doorjamb lock. His moist eyes fell upon Akane's trembling lips. "I love you too. I always have."

Akane gasped a pained breath as she tried to hold back from crying any more than she already had. Ranma walked back to her and gently grabbed her right hand and lifted it to his face. He gently kissed the tip of her fingers and walked back out.

-----------------------

Ranma reached the end of the corridor to Ukyou's room, marked with a plainclothes police officer next to the door. On a hallway bench nearby was another man in a suit. He looked familiar as Ranma came closer.

Kei Sakuragi pulled his face out of his hands and looked up to see a pigtailed man approaching Ukyou's room. He recognized the man from outside his office after Ukyou had been shot.

Ranma recognized him too and completely ignored his greeting as he flashed a badge to the officer next to the door to be allowed in. Kei was stopped and aggressively shoved back by the officer as the door closed behind Ranma.

The curtains inside Ukyou's room weren't completely shut but were drawn just enough to allow her to comfortably sleep in her bed. Ranma pulled up a chair next to her body and accidentally awoke her.

"Who is it?" Ukyou asked in a stupor.

Ranma winced. "I'm sorry I woke you, Ucchan."

Her eyes fluttered open and she smacked her lips and smiled when she saw that it was Ranma. She groaned a bit as she cradled her stomach and clicked enthusiastically on the morphine drip before crudely grinning.

"Does it hurt bad, Ucchan?"

"It's really sore after all the surgery," Ukyou mumbled. "But the morphine is awesome. I can totally see myself getting addicted to this stuff."

Ranma tapped Ukyou's nose and started laughing. "Well, I don't think you'll want to get shot again just so you can get doped up on painkillers."

"Oh you~" Ukyou weakly wagged a finger at Ranma. "Thank you."

"For what?"

"For saving my life. For coming to see me."

"You're my best friend, aren't you?" Ranma said, smiling.

"I'm glad for once it was that," Ukyou said, shoving her face into a pillow. She breathed deeply and sighed. "So did you get them all? You put away the bad guys?"

"Not yet."

"Well what are you waiting around here for? Get out there. You have a job to do."

Ranma nearly cackled in surprise. "What, you want to get rid of me that quickly?"

"No, seeing you here was enough. You saving my life like that yesterday was enough to prove that I'm more than just a fling or a friend or whatever you want to call it." She tapped her chest. "I can finally let you go, from here."

Ranma cracked a wink at Ucchan and grabbed a hold of her hand and squeezed it tight. "I'm glad to hear you're doing fine, Ucchan. I'll go out and catch the bad guys now."

"You go do that. And remember to bring one back with a ribbon tied on 'em for me."

"By the way, Ucchan. Your ex-boyfriend? I don't want you around him or see him again. He's part of the reason you're lying here."

Ukyou sighed and shrugged. "I figured as much."

Ranma nodded. "I'm glad you understand."

Ukyou shook the wired remote to the morphine drop before he could walk away. "Wait, wait! Before you go you have to teach me or find out if there's like a cheat code for this morphine switch. It'll only let me have a drip every few hours."

Ranma nearly burst out in laughter as he came close to the bed and leaned over to grab the remote clicker. He handed it back to Ukyou. "I think there's a reason for that, Ucchan."

"Oh, poo. I guess I'll just settle for this." She reached up and grabbed Ranma's head and kissed him with some tongue.

Ranma jolted his head back in surprise with a giggling Ucchan squirming in her bed. "Hey!"

"I promise that was the last one!" Ukyou squealed. "It was just as good as the morphine, I swear!"

Ranma raised a brow as he reached for the door. "Almost as good?"

Ukyou waved him off as he exited.

-------------------

Kei stubbornly pleaded with the man who guarded Ukyou's door for the umpteenth time. The only other visitor he had seen was a short haired girl who was apparently a VIP at this hospital for some reason. It was painfully obvious to Kei that the man was fully capable of kicking his ass and then some, so strong arming his way into seeing Ukyou had not been an option.

The door opened again and Ranma stepped out. The plainclothes officer acknowledged him with a nod and stepped out of the way for him.

Kei's eyes widened at the sight of Ranma. "Hey, mister! Remember me? My name is Kei Sakuragi, I was there yesterday to help you with Ukyou-"

Ranma cut him off. "Shut your fucking mouth." He poked Kei in the chest and gave him an icy glare. "You're a scumbag and I'm going to bust all of your scumbag friends."

Kei stammered. "I regret that my associations allowed this to happen, but believe me, please. I never ever would've wanted Kuonji-san to get hurt."

"Don't!" Ranma shouted. "Don't even utter her name! You shut your mouth!"

Kei clamped his mouth shut.

"Now tell me, asshole. Do you know who Akari Unryuu is?"

"Huh?" Kei's forehead creased and he scratched his head. "I don't know, maybe. Sounds familiar."

"You don't remember loaning money to a girl with that name and then allowing her to default on a ridiculous rate of interest?"

Kei huffed in exasperation. "I've dealt with clients like that a dime a dozen in the financial industry! I can't remember a single name out of the sea of names that have defaulted on their loans."

Ranma grabbed a handful of Kei's shirt tightly around his fist and then drove down a kick to break each of his kneecaps. Kei crumpled down on the ground and shook uncontrollably at the pain, unable to handle the shock.

"You bastard! You broke my legs!" Kei yelped.

A nurse from around the corridor popped out and ran towards them. "What happened?"

Ranma looked over to the plainclothes SAT officer to his side. "I think he tripped. What do you think?"

The officer smiled. "Looks like an accident. I didn't see shit."

***

April 29th, 2001.

Lotte Mall Garage Parking, Underground Level 3 – Sumida, Tokyo. 5:45 PM.

The lens on Miyuki's camcorder generously zoomed far beyond that of the model's original limit thanks to the addition of her high-tech telephoto lenses. The digital camcorder saved directly to her laptop, which Natsumi observed on the passenger seat. She saw what Miyuki was capturing through the viewfinder.

They were perfectly disguised as regular women on a trip to the shopping mall with their car parked in the basement levels of the Lotte plaza. Miyuki's diminutive Toyota roadster hid nicely among the other cars as she spied on the activities of the car thieves she was taping. The top was up and the interior was dimmed, making them difficult to spot.

However, coincidence had it that they really were just being regular women on a trip to the mall when both of them had noticed several men walking around snooping into car windows as they were searching for a parking spot. After some quiet observation, their suspicions were confirmed. Their targets were confident thieves, scoping around the lot as casually as possible, dismissed by the casual passerby as just another mall patron.

Natsumi clicked her tongue as she watched the footage through the laptop screen. "I don't know whether we're incredibly lucky or unlucky on our day off," she said. "Who'd have thought we'd stumble onto the car theft ring like this?"

"I'm glad I kept this equipment with me," Miyuki said. "I feel like a real detective. Ne, Natsumi?"

"I'm not exactly sure, but I guess its close," Natsumi replied."

Miyuki set down the camcorder onto her lap and pulled out her cell phone. "Think we should call the JNSA?"

Natsumi frowned. "Why bother? They haven't stolen anything yet. Let's make the catch first. It's not like these guys are armed to the teeth."

"Who knows? We should call Ranma Saotome first and then-"

"Oh?" Natsumi narrowed her eyes. "Ranma now, is it? So was that his real name?"

"Well, yeah," Miyuki said, evasively.

"You want to call HIM, not just the JNSA. Is that it?" Natsumi said.

Miyuki's face flushed. "He told us to observe and report in. That's all I'm suggesting we do."

Natsumi looked at her partner and best friend, a hint of disgust mixed into her sigh and worry in her eyes. "Look, I'm not going to drag this out on you or put you on the spot. But if you have a little crush on him, be straight about it. And be careful, he's a dangerous guy. Even though he's one of the good guys."

"I'm just trying to do the right thing," Miyuki said. She started looking through her phone's contact list for the number.

Natsumi smirked. "You already have the guy's number saved in your phone? Who are you trying to kid?"

Miyuki blushed furiously as the call connected.

***

April 29th, 2001.

46th floor, JNSA Headquarters – Tokyo, Japan. 6:00 PM.

Four men gathered around a round table under a bright lamp. Scattered among them were various scribbles and printouts with multiple highlights. On one end of the table Ranma tapped the ashes of his cigarette into a ceramic ashtray with his other hand glued to his cellphone on his ear.

Takayama kept flipping through the sheets as if there was another piece of info hidden away, waiting to be found. "There's nothing more about this guy we can use? He couldn't even touch Ranma let alone sneak up and ambush him."

Jackson perused through his copies of Masa Hirotaki's jacket files. What little searching found was hardly useful.

The fourth man at the table was a technician from one of the lower floors, the same one who had helped out Jackson previously. He held the only picture they could find of Masa Hirotaki, taken from a juvenile arrest. It was enough for Ranma to recognize him from the botched Shinjuku shooting.

Ranma scribbled furiously onto a notepad as he talked on the phone. He ended his call with an exasperated puff of smoke exhaled into the air. "We just got lucky. Our two lady friends from Bokutou Station said they caught onto a group of professional car thieves at a mall in the Sumida area."

"The ones we saved?" Jackson's head tilted to the side. "What did you tell them to do?"

"I told them to keep an eye on them and not do a damn thing. Let's get moving."

----------------------

Jackson drove as Ranma scoped out the windows to gather his surroundings. The address they were give to the chop shop was near the riverbank and thankfully an industrialized district of the neighborhood with fewer people around.

"We can't let any fighting spill out onto the streets." Ranma looked over at Jackson. "If these guys are it, we have to contain them. Got it?"

"Loud and clear." Jackson turned into a dusty alleyway and spotted a blue coupe. He turned off the lights as he parked.

"Any word on Kurosawa being here?" Ranma asked.

Jackson got out of the car. "He's helping the search on Nabiki Tendo. She's one of the JNSA's top priorities and a case all by herself now."

The Bokutou policewomen saw the two agents come towards them. Miyuki managed to get a good view of their transportation in the dim lit alleyway. It was the same turbocharged, all-wheel drive station wagon from their first meeting.

Ranma walked up to the convertible roadster. "Is it that building over there?" He pointed to a grayed out auto repair business that looked half abandoned.

Miyuki nodded. "They took in three trucks, a van, and a BMW sedan. No one has come out since they've returned."

"How many people did you see?" Jackson asked.

"Six from the mall," Natsumi replied from the passenger seat. "Possibly more inside because someone opened the door for them. We took a walk around too and heard some voices in there."

Ranma scowled. "That was pretty dangerous. Now we appreciate your help up till now, but I would really like to insist you leave and let us take care of this."

Natsumi scowled back. "No way! This is our case!"

"We have a responsibility as police officers too," Miyuki said, joining in. "This car theft ring was assigned to us by our station detectives."

The howl of creaking metal caught all of their attention as the garage doors to the chop shop opened up to allow a sedan to exit. Four men were seated inside, all with sunglasses.

Jackson ran to the backseat of the Mitsubishi Legnum and pulled out his MP5SD and activated the night vision sights aimed towards the passengers. "I'm pretty sure that the man in the front passenger seat is our target. We need to get moving, now!"

"We're coming with you!" Natsumi said.

Ranma walked over to Jackson and grabbed his suppressed submachine gun and aimed it at the engine of Miyuki's car. "No, you're not. I don't want either of you involved. This is for your own good. Go home and get the hell out of here. Please."

Miyuki got out and protested as Ranma and Jackson got back into their cars to tail the Bimmer. "We helped you! You can't just leave us out like this!"

Jackson was already backing out as Ranma stuck his head out the window. "We can and we will."

Natsumi also got out of the car and came up next to Miyuki as they were left in the dust by Ranma's departure. "That jerk!"

"C'mon, let's go."

Natsumi looked over at Miyuki. "What?"

"I said let's go. If anyone can tail them, I can."

"You heard what he said, it could be dangerous. Last time we tangled with him, it nearly killed us."

"And you're going to let that haunt you forever? Are you my partner or not?" Miyuki demanded.

Natsumi bit her lip. "Ok, you win."

----------------

"What is that over there?" Ranma said, looking out through his binoculars.

Jackson rubbed his chin as he looked through his own pair of binoculars. "That looks like the sign for the Tokyo Star Bank. I wonder what a bank is doing in the middle of nowhere?"

Ranma set his sight away from Masa and his men as they pulled up to the side of a large, mostly unmarked building that was devoid of windows. They were near an area full of local fish mongers and distributors, all them closed down for the night. He typed in an address into the car's onboard computer mounted crudely onto the center console.

"Anything come up?" Jackson said.

Ranma shook his head. "It's still searching. I put in Tokyo Star Bank."

Jackson nodded and continued to observe their suspects. They were taking out something from the back. "They pulled some pipes or something out of the trunk. I wonder what the hell they're doing?"

"They armed?" Ranma continued to fiddle with the computer.

"One suspect has an AR-type rifle with 100-round betas. Two others have FN FALs with 20-round magazines." Jackson's eyes squinted as he focused on the odd tube Masa had taken hold of. "He's fiddling with the pipe. I can barely see in this dim light."

"Should've packed some more night optics," Ranma said. "It looks like something's starting to show up. The computer said it's a branch of the bank, alright. But it's not for normal clients."

Jackson continued to scrutinize the odd pipe in Masa's hands. He saw Masa struggle and extend it, with another portion being pulled out of a sleeve. "He lengthened it."

"Odd, I wonder what kind of bank this is?" Ranma asked aloud. He glanced over at Jackson. "Good thing there's no people around here at night, huh? We won't have to worry about collateral damage."

A lump started to form in Jackson's throat. He watched as Masa flipped up a lever on the pipe. It looked alarmingly familiar. "Captain, I think you should take a look at this-"

"Aha! It says here it's a reserve bank." Ranma tapped on the screen. "Tokyo Star has a branch out here for the local merchants to make large cash deposits. That's why it said it wasn't for regular customers!"

Jackson's eyes grew wider and wider as he saw Masa walk over to an open face wall on the side of the wall with the pipe in his arms. As soon as Masa lugged it onto his shoulders, Jackson recognized what it was.

"It's a fucking bazooka!"

Before Ranma could reply in horror a loud flash illuminated the area followed by an ear-piercing crackle from the explosive projectile. The deafening boom was gone quicker than it had come, leaving a cloud of dust where the bank's wall had been.

Neither Ranma or Jackson needed binoculars to see all four men scramble into the exposed bank vault. Ranma jumped out of the car along with Jackson and he grabbed his rifle from the backseat. Jackson already had his primary long gun strapped over his neck.

A single gangster jumped back out of the hole and saw Ranma and Jackson running their way from across the street. He immediately opened fire, peppering single shots in their direction with his FAL.

Ranma ducked and ran for cover in an adjacent building with entry recesses. Jackson managed to side step and fall into a stubby brick wall that was used as a sign. He was pinned down and curled into a ball to conceal his body from harm.

Unable to see where the shooter was, Ranma tried to distract him by shooting a distractive barrage to save Jackson. His thumb switched his G36K from semi-auto to full-auto and he peeked out from his recess to fire downrange into the general direction of the gangsters.

Masa ran back out the hole in the wall with his other two men at the sound of the gunfire, enraged that his heist was foiled. They were fish in a barrel, stuck in a narrow alleyway with walls on both sides and little to no cover. He saw the corner wall on the intersection on the opposite side of his underling exploding into crumbled bits as Ranma fired indiscriminately.

Jackson poked his head up and saw Ranma laying down suppressing fire and ran down the street so he could get to an area where he could triangulate fire downrange with his partner. He ran into a scrubby little alleyway with a metal dumpster that would provide perfect cover.

Masa and his men saw Jackson's lone form running down the street and fired back. Their rounds trailed and ricocheted off the surroundings as they barely missed Jackson's body.

Jackson juked to the side and dove into refuge just in time as the metal dumpster sparked from bounced bullets. He shouted in surprised when he was simultaneously greeted by a couple of terrified high pitched screams from behind the dumpster. He barely stopped his finger from pulling the trigger to his MP5SD as he stared down the sights to see Miyuki and Natsumi huddled in fear.

"What the hell are you two doing here!?" Jackson yelled.

Their response was to scream even louder as more rounds ricocheted and bounced around them and the front of the dumpster. Jackson cursed and positioned himself to get back into the fight and lay back some firepower.

Masa yelled at the rest of his men to get in the car. "I'll draw their fire, let's get the hell out of here!"

His underling Suguru ran over to his boss and shoved him into car instead. He held his M-16 with its 100 round magazine. "I'll cover it! You get out of here, aniki!"

Ranma peeked his head out to see a lone man sloppily spray rounds in a wide semi-circle as the nose of a BMW poked out from the alleyway. He saw the headlamps explode and the pops of the hood from gunfire coming from Jackson's position. Ranma took aim as well and riddled Suguru's back before he could hop into the car.

All of the windows of the BMW shattered as the occupants inside fired back at whatever they could after they saw their comrade shot to death right as he had tried to jump into the back seat. The car burned its tires as it peeled off into the street and immediately turned into another to escape as Ranma ran out to chase them.

Jackson, Miyuki, and Natsumi also ran out from their hiding spot to meet Ranma in the middle of the road. The sight of both female officers made Ranma gawk.

"What the hell are you two doing here!? I thought I told you to stay back!" Ranma yelled at the top of his lungs.

Miyuki had gathered her wits as soon as the gunfire stopped and she saw the car get away. She immediately started running towards Ranma and Jackson's Mitsubishi. "We have to get them!"

They all followed her in a frenzy as Miyuki jumped into the driver's seat. She fired up the car with the key that was still left in the ignition.

Ranma jumped into the passenger seat and grabbed the steering wheel. "What the hell do you think you're doing? Are you trying to get killed?"

As soon as Jackson and Natsumi slammed their doors shut in the back Ranma was silenced as the turbocharged wagon surged forward from a perfectly engaged launch. His head bounced off the head rest and the window as Miyuki aggressively cornered out into the street and gave chase.

Miyuki reached over Ranma's seat and fastened his seatbelt for him as he was too dazed to do it himself. "You'll never catch up to them without pushing this thing to the limit!"

Driving through cramped industrial quarters, Miyuki anticipated the path of the BMW and quickly spotted it as she turned into yet another street at breakneck speed. Ranma gave up on arguing with her and tried to aim his rifle out to fire but was unable to in the tight confines of the car's interior. He tossed it into the back seat with Jackson and pulled out his 1911 from his holster instead.

Ranma rolled down his window and unlocked his seatbelt, hanging his arm and shoulder out to fire on the BMW. Miyuki swerved and avoided a return of gunfire as it skidded off the sides of the wagon.

Jackson and Natsumi ducked in the backseat, with neither able to contribute as Miyuki and Ranma would've been in the line of fire.

"Eeep!" Ranma smacked the dashboard. "Easy! I almost flew out the window!"

"I can handle a little slalom!" Miyuki said.

The chase between both cars settled into a sophisticated dance of thousands of pounds of moving steel as Miyuki expertly dodged all return of automatic gunfire for every few paltry shots Ranma was able to return. He reloaded his pistol with a fresh mag as Miyuki continued to give chase.

"You know how to pull 360s?" Ranma asked.

"Easy!" Miyuki replied.

"How about catching up and pulling ahead of that asshole, can this car do that?"

Miyuki sniffed. "A VR-4 Legnum versus a 525? It'll dart right out!"

Ranma clicked the slide release and rammed a fresh round into the chamber. "Well get up there and do it!"

Without thinking it through, Miyuki followed his request in the heat of an adrenaline fueled impulse and launched the car forward with a perfectly rev-matched downshift. The turbocharged four-cylinder engine whirred violently as the car bucked forward and nearly rammed into the BMW as it passed it on its left.

In the high speed chaos Masa and his men fired but missed the rapidly moving station wagon as it passed right by them and leapt forward half a car length.

Miyuki tugged the steering wheel to the right and popped clutch while the engine was in the peak of its powerband to upset the traction of the wheels and induce spin. She controlled it with pinpoint precision as the car rotated smoothly like a spinning top.

Ranma had his pistol aimed out the window and aligned his shots to the occupants of the front seat of the BMW. He emptied his magazine across the windshield as the car completed its revolution, slamming into its side and hurling it out of control and onto a curb where it flipped over.

Miyuki slammed the brakes and nearly hit the curb herself as she tried to keep the car in control. She spun the car back with a 180 and launched it back towards the flipped BMW.

Masa kicked out his door from the backseat and ran out with two rifles in his arms, salvaged from his dead men. His left leg was lacerated and he hobbled towards a chained door and shot it out, leading into an empty storage facility for fish packing.

Ranma and Jackson heard the screams of several people from inside. They too ran out of their car and went into the building on foot. Jackson discarded his MP5SD in the car as it was out of ammo and he didn't go for the spare magazines stored away in the wagon's cargo hold. Natsumi gripped the back of Miyuki's headrest as she gripped tightly onto the steering wheel. They decided not to follow the other two into the breach.

Ranma went in first and barely escaped a volley of rounds as he ran through the door and tumbled on the ground. Jackson came in next and was grazed on the back by an angled shot that bounced off the ballistic vest he wore. It was a lucky shot that didn't penetrate and slid off, but it knocked him down.

"Don't fucking move!"

Both JNSA agents looked up and to their dismay Masa had an innocent man hostage, with a rifle barrel stuck under his chin and his body used as a shield. Masa's enraged face was clearly exposed.

Both Ranma and Jackson warily eyed each other as they tried to get back on their feet. Ranma managed to stand but Jackson was yelled at before he could get up. When he fell his Desert Eagle pistol had fallen out of his hands and knocked across the room. He immediately spotted Ranma's backup revolver, which had slipped out of his pocket when he tumbled. Jackson grabbed it and aimed it at Masa.

"Let him go! We can all talk this out!" Ranma said, his hands still on his own pistol.

"There's nothing to talk about! You killed all my friends!" Masa cried. "You drop your guns right now, or this guy gets it!"

"You should've shot me and made sure I was dead when you came to ambush me, you asshole!" Ranma countered back.

"I remember you!" Masa snarled. "I should've killed you in Shinjuku if I'd only been more careful!"

"And that's why you came back to murder me, right?"

Masa looked at Ranma incredulously. "Come back? I don't even know who the hell you are, you son of a bitch!"

Ranma shook his head and looked back at Jackson, who also looked perturbed.

"Now I'm going to count to three!" Masa yanked back the hair of his hostage, who was whimpering quietly. "If you don't put down your guns and let me walk out of here, I'm going to blow his head off!"

Ranma looked down at Jackson, who was lying prone on his back with his snubbie pocket revolver aimed dead straight at Masa.

"One!"

"Hey, Jackson. You got him?"

Jackson fanned the hammer of the revolver back with his thumb, engaging the action with a smooth click. A thin smile spread to his lips. "Yeah, I got him."

"Two!"

Ranma cleared his throat.

"Three!"/"Take him."

A single shot of .357 Magnum entered Masa's throat as he finished his last word and eviscerated the base of his brain at 1800 feet per second.* His body fell back against the aerated spray of blood from the back of his head.

The terrified hostage walked forward with eyes wide before fainting a few steps away. Ranma looked at the open space where Masa had just been standing, alive and breathing like any other human being. He looked back and saw his partner still on the ground, with his backup revolver still firmly in his grip. Jackson looked back at him sagely.

"Good shot." Ranma lent out a hand for Jackson to grab.

Jackson smacked his lips and looked down on the ground and back up at Ranma before grabbing his hand. "Especially when it counts."

*Or 500 meters per second for you metric fags. xxoo to Canadians.

***

April 29th, 2001.

Juntendo University Nerima Hospital – Nerima, Tokyo. 10:02 PM.

Ranma sighed as he listened in to Jackson on the other end of the line of his cell phone. He continued to walk down the corridor, stopping short of a break room.

"So we couldn't track down a single one of them?" Ranma couldn't believe it. The rest of Masa's men in the chop shop had made a run for it when they were given a surprise phone call in the midst of their earlier chase. "That's another cache of weapons and explosives unaccounted for and out in the open."

"It seems so," Jackson replied on the phone.

"How's our race car driver and her partner holding up?"

"They're a little shaken up, but they're doing fine. I'm going to recommend a citation for them, despite following us out there."

"Yeah, give them my blessings too, Jackson."

"Officer Kobayakawa requested if she could meet you when you become available." Jackson sniggered. "You know, I think she has a crush on you?"

Ranma sighed exasperatedly, smiling. "That'd be nice if it were true, but I'm already taken anyway. Tell her I'm busy."

"Will do, Cap'n." Jackson hung up.

Ranma pocketed his phone and noticed there were vending machines in the break room. He stepped in and took a look at the coffee machine as he pulled out some change for a cup of black coffee.

When he took out the paper cup out of the dispenser he blew on the steaming liquid. He took his first sip as he turned around and dropped it on the ground when he saw who was sitting on the plastic bench in the back of the room.

"Shit!" Ranma stepped away from the splashed coffee on the ground. He wiped his mouth clean and stepped closer to the bench. "Ryoga? Where the hell have you been?"

Ryoga had his face buried in his hands and slowly looked up at the sound of Ranma's voice, his bloodshot eyes and baggy eyelids haunting his features. He eyed Ranma up and down, lips trembling. His feet scrambled as he scooted to the side of the bench to get away from Ranma, repelled by his presence.

"For christ's sake man, what's wrong with you?" Ranma said, irritated. A migraine like twitch pained the back of Ranma's head for a split second and disappeared. "I heard everyone's been looking all over for you! Where'd you go?"

"You're ok?" Ryoga stammered, looking at him like a ghost.

Ranma sat down next to Ryoga, worried for his old friend. He rubbed the back of his head. It felt like he had a sudden onset of a headache. "Yeah man, I'm fine. I heard a little bit about what happened last night, but I survived. Who the hell ambushed the house?"

Ryoga's eyes started to water and he pointed a single finger at Ranma's chest. "Your chest...It-it"

"Yeah, the bastards shot me in the left lung, left me for dead. If Kiyone hadn't found me I would've been a goner." Ranma put a hand to his forehead and winced, this headache was alarmingly painful and it came out of nowhere.

Ryoga looked up at Ranma's face, then down at his hands. He got off the bench and onto the floor, sitting down on his shins. He buried his face in his hands again and started weeping openly.

Ranma went down to pick him up, alarmed. "What the hell is going on? What's the matter with you Ryoga?"

"I'm so sorry!" Ryoga said in sobbing gasps. He grabbed onto Ranma's shirt with his hands and continued to cry with his head down. "I'm so sorry!"

This sudden outburst in combination with his now pulsating headache alarmed Ranma to a frightening level. "Sorry for what? You're not making any sense!"

Ryoga cried even harder, his hands still gripping on to the front of Ranma's shirt. He finally let go and scrambled back against the wall looking around in confusion and breathing heavily.

Watching Ryoga's erratic behavior left Ranma at a loss and he wondered how he should have reacted. He stood up and watched carefully as Ryoga continued to hyperventilate and then slowly calm back down. The crying however, continued.

"It was Nabiki," Ryoga wailed. "She made me do it. Said she'd take everything away. Blame it on me. I'd go to jail."

"Hnnng!" Ranma fell down to a knee as a bolt of debilitating pain jolted his brain. "Nabiki? Do what? Why would you go to jail?

"I didn't want to do it, I swear!" Ryoga continued, drool slobbering out of his mouth. "I didn't want to kill you like some animal and live my life like that. She had the gun with her and told me I'd be good as dead if I didn't."

This time another bolt of pain brought Ranma down to both knees and clutched his head in agony. Ryoga's blubbering chaos and his pain were intertwined with a tingling sensation in the back of his mind.

Ranma shouted with eyes squeezed shut from pain. "Ryoga what the hell are you talking about?"

He felt himself getting lifted onto his feet by a violent force. When Ranma opened his eyes he saw Ryoga's tear streaked face in front of him, his fists clinging to his shirt again. They were both standing.

"It wasn't an ambush. I shot you," Ryoga said. "I shot you!"

And like a soap bubble popping as it reached its limit, the pain went away. Ranma gasped and rattled back a choke as he remembered in full detail what had happened. He remembered Ryoga holding Jackson's Walther PPK with the suppressor screwed on to the muzzle. He remembered feeling his limbs lose strength as his body convulsed. The tea cup on the coaster. Closing his eyes and falling asleep.

Ranma whimpered back, all the strength in his body momentarily lost from him. "I remember now. You shot me. You did shoot me. It came back to me in a flash."

Ryoga let go of Ranma's shirt and grabbed onto his shoulders and brought his head down, hanging his head as he looked down on the tile floor. "And I haven't been able to live with myself since!"

"Oh my god," Ranma said, disbelief coloring every emotion on his own features.

"I don't deserve Akane like this," Ryoga growled this time. "I can't become a good man for her after what I've done."

Ranma stepped back. "And that's why you fucking disappeared."

Ryoga shook his head, his tears run dry now. "I want you to kill me."

Ranma blinked. "What?"

"You heard what I said!" Ryoga screamed.

Ranma heard the worried shuffle of the hospital staff starting to convene on them. He looked at Ryoga worriedly and with pity. "No, I can't."

"I killed you! Why wouldn't you want to do the same for me?"

Ranma squeezed his eyes shut, hurt. "Two wrongs won't make a right, Ryoga."

Before he had a chance to open his eyes again Ranma felt Ryoga reaching for his pistol inside of his waistbaind. In a panic, Ranma wrestled Ryoga to the ground and tried to manipulate his arms to release his hold. After a sloppy shuffle, Ryoga jumped back up with Ranma's 1911 in hand, with the safety snapped off in the confusion.

"Give that back, Ryoga!" Ranma demanded.

Ryoga looked at him with soft eyes, reminiscent of the lost boy in his youth. "I'm sorry, Ranma."

Time slowed down to frames as Ranma saw Ryoga stick the muzzle into his mouth. Ranma's legs jumped forward with all the speed he could muster but it all appeared to him in slow motion. He released a wail of his own as he saw Ryoga's finger squeeze back on the trigger and the muzzle flash illuminated the caverns of his mouth like it had for Yukado Shiro. A modest spray of blood painted the antiseptic white hospital wall in the direction of the barrel like a quick fling of a paint brush on a canvas.

Ranma got to Ryoga only in time to catch his falling body in his arms as the pistol fell from Ryoga's mouth along his limp arms.

*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+

*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+

May 4th, 2001.

Akari Unryuu hummed a soft tune as she tidied up her tiny studio apartment as she awaited her guest. She had a kettle of hot water for green tea ready with some rice crackers on a plate. She certainly hoped it wouldn't ruin his lunch.

The doorbell rang and Akari's face brightened as she ran over to get it. She anxiously turned the deadbolt and opened up the door to see Ranma in front of her, dressed in a black suit and tie. She giggled as it looked strange on him. She couldn't picture him in anything so serious.

"It's such a surprise to have you see me!" Akari said. "I'm glad you really called back."

"Oh, it's nothing," Ranma said, trying to manage a smile. "May I come in?"

Akari beamed. "Oh, absolutely! Come on in, I made some tea."

He stepped inside with a manila envelope in his hand and took a seat in the cramped little space that was hardly livable for one person. This entire floor shared a single communal bath and toilet. He looked around at Akari's sparse belongings and the crudeness of the apartment. There was a rusty sink for a kitchen with a single electric heating element plugged to a socket in the wall. There wasn't even a table.

"I know it's a bit cozy in here, but its home," Akari said. She carried the kettle with a homemade mitt shaped like a pig. She poured some into a tea pot with powder inside of it and mixed it thoroughly before pouring some for Ranma and herself.

Ranma gratefully accepted it and sipped it enthusiastically. "Thank you, it's delicious."

"You're welcome," Akari replied.

"How have you been?" Ranma asked, his cup at his mouth.

Akari took a sip and smiled. "The same since we last met. Glad I met my old friend again."

Ranma chuckled. "Glad to see you again too." He handed Akari the envelope.

"What's this?" she said, taking it.

"I'm sorry I can't stay long, but I just wanted to visit you and also hand that to you."

Akari opened up the contents and looked at the documents inside. She put a hand to her mouth and looked at Ranma in shock.

"From this moment on, you're nobody's slave. You don't have to live like this."

It took a few moments for it to all sink in for Akari as she stared at a document she had long signed away with her name, contracting her to a loan that she had never been able to repay. The accompanying documents with it stated that all of her debts had been forgiven and it meant she could start on a fresh clean slate.

"Oh thank you!" Akari leapt over and hugged Ranma around the waist.

Ranma gladly returned the hug, patting her back. "You don't have to go back to that awful cabaret club anymore. You can do the things you love again, like that pig farm."

Akari released him and nodded happily, wiping away a tear from her eye. But it was replaced softly with a wistful smile. "Thank you, Ranma. I don't know how I can ever pay you back."

"You don't have to. We're friends. That's what friends are for."

She nodded. "I know," she whispered. "But I can't leave where I work. I'm stuck at nothing, even without my debts. I don't know how to do anything else."

Ranma felt a horrible pang of guilt and sorrow in the pit of his stomach. "You're going back there?"

"My friends I work with are all I have left. And all they have left is me, too."

"I just want you to live the life you deserve, Akari." He gently laid a hand on her shoulder.

"And I will. I'm not going to waste this. Please, believe me."

Ranma nodded. He set down his cup on a counter and headed for the door. "I need to get going now."

Akari cleared her cup away as well and went out the door with him. "Where do you have to go?"

Ranma sighed. "I was on my way to a funeral, actually."

Akari's brow creased as she lifted a hand to her mouth. "Oh, my. Whose funeral?"

He shook his head. "No one you know, Akari. Well, take care."

"You too." She gave him one last bear hug before he headed towards the stairs. "Thank you for being my friend."

Ranma smiled as he patted her on the head playfully. "Thanks for being mine."

***

"And so we lay to rest a brave soul who dedicated his life for good. Who cherished all those around him and paid the highest price for the justice he swore to uphold."

Ranma shifted his feet as he stood next to Kiyone in her full-dress Class-A police uniform. Mihoshi was next to her, also in full dress with her uniform impeccably starched and pressed.

The hundreds of mourners around the cremated remains in the middle laid their eyes to give their final respect to the dearly departed. Ranma looked at the many uniformed police officers around him, the equestrian units who flanked them with dignity and the color guard with the flags of Japan, the National Police Department and the insignia of the Okayama Police Department standing proudly at attention. He solemnly appreciated how the Japanese took care of their fallen with grace and gratitude like American police did.

Kiyone hadn't acknowledged Ranma at all since he appeared for the burial. He stood silently and watched as the funeral took place, concluding finally with a honored tribute to the kin of Officer Juzo Kanemaki as he was buried alongside his wife and unborn child.

The honor guard concluded the ceremony with a military gun salute and with a heavy heart the procession was dismissed.

Ranma stood by Kiyone and Mihoshi's side as most of the people sifted away while family members and the few police officers who knew Juzo Kanemaki well remained.

He glanced down to see Kiyone had been holding his hand, squeezing it tight as she mourned steadfast without crying. Mihoshi had grieved quietly, but didn't hide it unlike her partner. He had unknowingly squeezed her hand back the whole time, never noticing when they had reached out for each other.

-------------------

"How are you holding up?"

Kiyone looked up at Ranma as they walked side by side with hands together in the cemetery. The sun was starting to set. "I'm fine. I'm glad he was put to rest."

"I didn't see you cry or shed a single tear there," Ranma said.

Kiyone took a deep breath. "I shed my tears for Kanemaki-san, but his funeral didn't feel like the right place for it. Not to me, at least."

Ranma was taken aback. "Why not at the funeral, of all places?"

"Because he's a police officer," she said. Kiyone looked deep into Ranma's eyes. "As police officers we have a duty to be brave when it matters the most. I wanted to offer Juzo that much of my resolve to him as he was honored one last time."

"You're a funny gal," Ranma replied. He gave her a skeptical look, but with a grin attached to it. "That was downright stoic."

"And why weren't you at the wake, earlier?" Kiyone asked.

"I had some important private business to finish with in Tokyo," he said. "I had to give her something."

Kiyone brow crinkled and her lips also curled up to the side. "A girl? You ditched attending most of the funeral with me for another girl?"

Ranma shook his head, unwilling to fall for it. "No, she wasn't just some girl. It was a friend. She was in trouble and I saved her when no one else could."

"Oh," Kiyone nodded.

She thought perhaps if her playful jab had led her foot to her mouth as they walked back to their cars. She was stopped suddenly as Ranma tilted her back and kissed her.

"Oh!" she responded excitedly.

Ranma lifted her back up and released her from his embrace. He held both of her hands and gave her a look that felt like it bared his soul for her. "You're my girl. No one else."

Kiyone looked at him incredulously for a moment without responding. She rolled her eyes and started laughing much to Ranma's puzzled amusement.

"What's so funny?" he asked.

Kiyone kissed him back with a peck on the lips and squeezed his hand tight again. This time she wrapped her arm closely around his too. "Nothing. Let's go back."

[End Chapter 9]

Disclaimer: This is fan fiction, I don't plan to make a profit out of someone else's work, just don't sue me. All respective trademarks, copyrights, whatever-rights, theirs and not mine.

Author's Ramble: The end is near. All that's left after this is the epilogue, which I will talk about in a bit. A couple of parts of this chapter was written when I was tired, frustrated, and very exhausted at times. This piece took just a wee bit longer than I expected, but not outrageously so. For my oldtime readers, I'm sure you know by now that two months is like a blink compared to how I usually update ^_-

Author's Notes: Originally at the end of chapter 8 I stated I would release chapter 9 with the epilogues attached. The epilogues themselves were the final "chapter" of my story, alas now that I've planned it out and started it, it is turning out much longer than I expected. Not quite a full chapter, but it ain't short either. I started writing the epilogues along the same time I started this chapter as to preserve the integrity of my original outlines.

Alas, I also will not have a lengthy notes section for this chapter either. I'm doing this on purpose, as to not spoil shit.

Hope you guys liked the way chapter 8's excruciating cliff hanger played out in this chapter. Like I mentioned before, all of this was semi-meticulously planned. And by the way, the movie reference to that scene was from LA Confidential. One of the finest examples of noir and diaspora in film. It's an excellent film in general.

Although I originally started off having Ranma's female form with black hair (as the manga had interpreted), over the years I realized I didn't like this very much. Washu's bit hijink where she screws up on the gene sequence thing was actually someone else's idea, James Axelrad, a longtime reader of mine and also the prereader and proof reader (thank you ^_-). At first I had something else planned, but I warmed up to his idea over mine after some time. Ranma-chan without red hair seemed like a bad thing, even for me.

Also, despite lots of requests for Ranma and Miyuki's relationship with each other being further explored, alas this fic will not go further into it. Miyuki and Natsumi were always intended to be fun cameo character, not another subplot to add to the story. Same way with my other cameos. Also here is another scene shamelessly inspired by The Untouchables (1989).

The police funeral at the end was something I had tried to do research on but even the power of Google managed to fail me. I didn't want to make a project out of it, so I just winged it with a very hackneyed and modified version of what I expect from an American police funeral. It was all for setting anyway and not something I was particularly concerned with.

I'd like to finally thank you guys again for reading my fic, especially those of you who have stuck with me for a long time over the years. Your words of encouragement, comments, ff net reviews, emails, criticisms, everything has served to help me write this and bring it one step closer to completion and hopefully help me into being one step closer to improvement.

I'd like to also give a special thanks to Ariolander who graciously spent the time and effort to create a new webpage for me at .com. The AtFics concept he came up with is a wonderful one and I sincerely hope you can start a burgeoning trade of fanfiction camaraderie with it like the good old days, my friend.

Check out my new website at .com . Lots of cool stuff there, in addition to my fanfics!.

PLEASE, PLEASE, PLEASE SEND ME FEEDBACK!!! My e-mail is . For the fanfiction net people, you'll have to click the links on my profile.

Finished January 15, 2009.


	10. 10 Epilogue

Please visit my website at . or email me at or sgtranma "at" gmail dot com for you FF net folks

For you guys reading from fanfiction dot net, and you can't see the links above, click on my profile and check out my homepage. There's some cool stuff on there, worth checking out. You might like it.

------------------------

Epilogue

August 30th, 2001.

Los Angeles International Airport, Tom Bradley Terminal. – 8:01 AM.

As soon as the automatic sliding doors whooshed open, a blast of cool morning air mixed with the fumes of burnt diesel and petrol enveloped him with a sense of disappointment. The airport here had buses and cars the same as the airport back home.

He had hoped for a wave of nostalgia as soon as his feet had landed back in California soil, alas he would probably have to wait until he went into the city and maybe grab something he hadn't had in a while. A carne asada burrito and some al pastor tacos with some salsa roja would do the trick. A perfect way to cure jetlag, he decided.

He reached into his pocket and pulled out a crisp box of Marlboro Reds, unopened in its cellophane wrapper. The duty-free cartons were a steal and he stocked up a few.

A single cig hung loosely at the corner of his lips. He brought it to life with the tip of a match. He took a breath of revitalizing nicotine before he raised his arm to flag down a cab.

***

August 31st, 2001.

Lomita Apartments - Torrance, California. 3:24 PM.

The hinge on the front door creaked open as the mailman dropped off today's collection of supermarket specials and clearance sales at JC Penney. They dropped on the floor, next to a disheveled pile of similar junk mail pushed to the side of the wall by the door.

The curtains inside this one bedroom apartment were all dimmed and closed shut, blocking out the the current heat wave. The apartment was a virtual greenroom as it was situated on the second floor and placed in a corner of the complex that absorbed the most sunlight. There was barely use for an air conditioner though. The South Bay was close to the cool breeze of the Pacific Ocean and devoid of the smog from Los Angeles which was some fifteen miles* to the north.

Nabiki stared vapidly at the TV screen, flipping through the channels with her legs balled up and her chin on her knees. The only thing that was remotely interesting was CNN.

The apartment was stale with the acrid smell of burnt tobacco and the compost stench of takeout cartons stacked high and tumbled over the wastebasket in the kitchen. Mildew reeked from the sinks, packed with dishes left unwashed and chunks of food backed up in the garbage disposal.

Nabiki's mouth yawed and her tongue kept scraping her teeth. Her crusty lips pressed down and puckered in succession, emphasizing her chubbier cheeks and daring to show what started to look like a saggy chin.

She was dressed in a white tank top over an uncomfortably tight looking pair of cotton shorts. The threads disheveled a bit where her waistline had stretched out ever so gradually.

"Where are my smokes?" Nabiki set down the remote control and started aimlessly reaching around the floor to her side. She knocked down a couple of stacks of hundred dollar bills as she grabbed an empty pack of cigs.

"Shit." She closed her eyes for a moment, considering the trip she'd have to make outside. After bracing herself by breathing really heavily, she stood up.

Nabiki grabbed a pair of sunglasses off the scummy, crumb laden counter that overlooked her kitchen and the living room. She had no furniture, no bed. Just an assorted collection of blankets and pillows sprawled everywhere. She was too paranoid to set up her home, fearing she might have to flee. This was despite the fact she hadn't done it once, paranoid that moving often was suspicious as well.

She shielded her weary eyes and covered her messy hair with a large cap, a blue Dodgers duckbill. Nabiki grabbed her carkeys and went out the door, locking it from the inside out by twisting the knob lock. She had long neglected utilizing the dead bolt like she normally would.

Her choice of transportation was a run of the mill Toyota Camry. It was a purchase that she had reluctantly made versus something nicer as it easily blended in as a common appliance for the road. She triggered the keyless entry as she climbed down the stairs to the parking lot.

Nabiki's over-boosted eardrums noticed the footsteps behind her first.

"Hey."

She didn't turn around. Her keys were still in her hands. That voice didn't make her scream. It didn't even make her blood run cold.

"Hey," the voice behind her repeated again.

She wished she could say she was surprised. She wasn't. Nabiki turned around and saw Ranma standing in front of her. She stared at him with her eyes hidden by her large sunglasses.

"Hey," Nabiki responded. She looked at him carefully. She thought about the plans and precautions she had made prior to coming here.

Ranma looked at her with even eyes, his eyebrows straight and rigid. He took a look at Nabiki up and down and silently cried out in alarm inside. She looked like a wreck.

She thought about her family. She had last heard Ryoga had tried to commit suicide. She wasn't able to communicate long enough to find out if he had died or survived. The phone calls were easily traceable.

Ranma put his mouth up to his hand and he rubbed his chin. His eyes softened a bit. He gestured at her apartment. "Let's go up and talk, yes?"

Nabiki nodded reluctantly and walked her way up. She thought about her apartment.

Ranma silently followed her from the bottom. He could smell the stale leftovers of smoke and trash from her apartment when she opened the door.

When he walked in, Ranma figured he shouldn't bother taking off his shoes. The place was a mess. The carpeted floor was littered with random bits of junk. He caught his eye on a counter on the kitchen. There were several prescription bottles sitting there. He immediately shuffled over to take a look.

Nabiki's mind kept wandering. She expected it because she hadn't covered her tracks like she meant to. Why had she been so paranoid?

And then she saw him grab one of her medicine bottles on the counter. She broke out of her reverie. That's right.

"Adderall? Desoxyn? Xanax?" Ranma shook his head as he picked up and read each one. He noticed the stacks of money littered on the ground too.

Nabiki pressed her back against the wall, furthest away from Ranma. She faced him, but covered her face and peeked through her fingers. She slowly slid down to the ground.

Ranma took a step back and saw some more prescription bottles on the ground. These were near the money, on top of a photo album. The bottles were all similar and he assumed they were the same drug. He picked up the album and flipped through it first. They were pictures of the Tendo family. Ranma was in some of them too. And they were under bottles of Oxycontin.

Nabiki quietly started sobbing. Her hands were matted to her hair, and her palms collected the tears that were cascading down her cheeks.

"Nabiki, Nabiki, Nabiki." Ranma pinched the bridge of his nose and talked with his back against her. "What have you been doing to yourself?"

He walked over and sat down to her left. He cradled his knees under his chin and leaned his head back against the wall as he continued to listen to her sob.

"You left behind a lot of worried people, Nabiki. The government and the authorities are also very concerned of your whereabouts. Your father got better and recovered from his shock. Kasumi got out of the hospital and is recovering and rebuilding her life after getting over what has happened. Akane is nursing Ryoga full time and attending therapy sessions with both him and Kasumi to adjust."

Nabiki peeked out her wet, bloodshot eyes. "Ryoga survived?"

Ranma sighed. He pulled out his pack of cigarettes and offered Nabiki one. She gingerly took it and received a light too. Ranma lit one for himself.

"So you heard too, huh?" Ranma replied.

Nabiki didn't respond. She just puffed her cigarette and let it ash on herself.

"He shot himself in the mouth but it missed his brain. It came out behind his ear, kinda like Edward Norton in Fight Club. It happened at a hospital so the doctors saved his life by patching him up pretty quickly.

"And he told me about the whole thing too. Why he'd done it. How he came to do it. What you had said to him. I heard it all."

Nabiki gulped.

"Akane calls me about you. Almost every day. Even though she knows I have to arrest you, she thinks I'm the only one who can find you. Kasumi worries too, but she's been lost in her own world. She's gotten over mourning for Tofu it seems, more as a friend than a husband.

"You're on the JNSA's most wanted list and at Interpol too. Shit, knowing how smart you are I'm sure you know the airports have you blacklisted. I hear even the CIA is upset with you for running arms to a faction which of course they would no way in hell endorse. Shit, supposedly it was their resources that helped me find you.

"I gotta hand it to you, Nabs. You're real cunning. The way you fooled our investigators, myself, and just about every analyst we had with the way you hid your money. Having Ryoga's family name as part of the dojo property wasn't just an honor bound ruse, was it? You managed to set up an amazing backchannel of accounts after accessing his family name and their own financial dealings. It makes sense though, Ryoga and his family of the lost have wandered and practically opened up a bank account or savings account under their names virtually all over the world seeing as how they never knew when they might need it again. It was nigh impossible to track."

Nabiki cracked her first smile. It had been a good ruse she had set up. It wasn't impenetrable, but it had given her an ample edge of escape time. Time she had squandered away.

"You know, even the Yakuza have it out for you? Even though you didn't deal with them? Forty million dollars, Nabiki. That's some serious drug money. When I found out how crazy of an amount they paid you, I didn't think you were so crazy for what you did. But it seems like there's a hundred thousand dollar contract on your head for your body. Dead or alive."

"I didn't even think I'd be worth that much," she muttered.

"It's enough to get me worried. I've only heard about high hit contracts like that in the movies. Technically, I could get paid that much right now if I did it myself."

Nabiki shrugged. She glanced at him with a resigned sigh.

"But I didn't come here for that. I didn't come here to tell you of your impending doom. I'm not here to tell you about all the horrible things I thought I wished of you when I thought about the fact that you had me killed. I'm not here for revenge."

"You here to arrest me, Officer Saotome?" Nabiki spat. "Put the cuffs on me and strike another victory for justice?"

Ranma looked at her and saw her prone form, hunched over next to him. He lifted is arm and wrapped it around her, jolting her in alarm. He gently put his hand on her hair and pulled her over to him.

"I'm not here to arrest you either, Nabiki."

Nabiki almost threw up from surprise. Her mouth hung open and she perked her ears.

"There's a million different things and reasons I can think of to do to you. And I think you know you deserve them. Or worse yet know you have it coming to you. But I'm not going to do that.

"Just looking at the way you've been living here, it seems I won't regret what I'm offering to you. Your family begged me to find you. They've begged me to spare you. Truth be told, I've begged myself the same thing at night when I'm by myself. When we finally found you, I begged my own terms on how to handle you to my superiors."

Nabiki stuttered out her next few words. "W-what d-does that m-m-m-mean?"

"I'm giving you a chance. You come back with me. You start over. Obviously you'll never be working for the government again. You accept the fact that you're going to be under surveillance for the rest of your life. And you give up all that money you've earned."

That last demand brought her brain to a screeching halt. She looked at him desperately, wordlessly pleading with him that it was too much. Ranma didn't budge.

"You can't have it. You want to start clean, you start clean. If you want it that bad, I'll tell you what. I'll leave here and let you live your life as you were and see how long you'll last. It's up to you."

Nabiki's eyes started watering again. She thought about the way she was living the past few months. The drugs. The drinking. The nightmares. The regrets...

"Just ask yourself, Nabiki..."

She had surrounded herself with stacks of money she didn't know how to spend as nothing had helped heal the wounds.

"Was it really worth it?"

And she cracked. She broke out into tears and cried freely into Ranma's chest. No, it wasn't worth it. It was never worth it.

She was curled up on his lap like a lost kitten. Ranma pat her head gently.

*15 miles – 24km for you metric folks.

September 2nd, 2001.

Rose Hills Memorial Park - Whittier, California. 10:12 AM.

"I know I should've visited you more often, baby. I'm sorry. I just haven't been myself the past year."

Ranma laid down a bouquet of sunflowers and daisies. They were some of her favorite flowers. He brushed away the dirt and pulled out the weeds next to the discreet low mounted gravestone. He wanted to clear the view to the crystal display of a police badge that was embedded at the bottom.

Ichino Yanagido

1975-2000

She who gave her life,

To Serve and To Protect

He looked at her name and closed his eyes. Had it been over a year, already? He flashed through what was the most tumultuous year of his life. It had all come back full circle. It was an epiphany that entailed having to forgive and save Nabiki before he could save himself for what he had become.

Ranma kneeled down and kissed the gravestone. "I miss you, Itchan. It's been a tough time without you. Just so many things have happened." His eyes wandered at the sky while he was talking, watering up as he addressed her spirit. "I think I've finally found the will to move on. I can go on with my life now. But that doesn't mean I'll ever stop loving you."

A gust of wind blew in Ranma's direction and nearly knocked him over. He was immediately thinking how odd it was to get such strong winds in the hills at this time of the year when his phone started ringing.

He looked at the caller ID. It was Kiyone.

"Hey, Kiyone. What's up?"

Kiyone's voice came out loud, almost like she was shouting. "What are you sounding so down for? You alright?"

"Yeah, Kiyone. I'm at cemetery right now. Visiting my late fiancée."

"You look down though. Want me to come and cheer you up?" Kiyone replied brightly.

Ranma tickled his nose with his finger. "Haha, sure. Why not. And what do you mean I look down, how would you know what I look like?"

Another gust of wind whooshed its way in Ranma's direction, this time making him fall to the ground. The sky above Ranma shifted into different colors like one big optical mind trick and the Yagami partially appeared, revealing its bay doors only. It opened up to reveal Kiyone with her ship's communicator on her ear.

Ranma dropped his phone and stared at her with eyes chocked. "Kiyone!?"

"Thought I'd give you a little surprise." She snapped her fingers and Yagami disappeared again, shielded by its cloaking device. "I flew over here with Yagami and traced your GPS signal. I kind of missed you and figured I had a vacation coming... I might as well spend it with you in America?"

Ranma laughed heartily as she walked up to him and helped him off the ground. He gave her a hug and a kiss on the cheek and grabbed her hands. He brought her to Ichino's grave with a solemn smile.

"Itchan, I'd like you to meet Kiyone. Kiyone, I'd like you to meet Ichino Yanagida. She was the finest police officer I ever knew."

Kiyone bowed graciously with heartfelt respect.

"I'm glad I got her to meet you, Itchan. She's real nice. I think you'd definitely like her. I'll drop in from time to time, ok?"

The couple walked away after Ranma gave one last kiss goodbye from his lips to his fingertips. Kiyone wrapped her arms around Ranma. They walked back to his rental car parked alongside the road.

"So, is there anything you feel like doing in particular?" Ranma asked.

Kiyone hummed for a few moments and then batted her eyes cutely at Ranma. "I don't know. I've never been to America before. We're in California right? Is there a lot of stuff to see?"

Ranma shrugged. "Sure. Depends on what you want to see."

"Well," Kiyone said, licking her lips. She smirked and then kissed him on the lips. "I remember you talked about real American cuisine once. Show me a tour."

"A food tour, huh?" Ranma started his car and then frowned at his choice of transportation. He looked at Kiyone and then felt his eyebrows lift to one side as he smiled. "Sure."

*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+

*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+

"-N-R-Y-U-U, that's how you spell her family name." Ranma nodded as he kept talking into his cell phone as he drove and navigated the twisting roads. "That's right, I want half of it transferred immediately, no questions asked, no hassles for her."

He ended the call and tossed his phone into the center console bin.

"What was that?" Kiyone asked, from the passenger seat.

"Just a gift for an old friend," Ranma said. He gripped the steering wheel with both hands and aggressively blipped the throttle as he went around the high speed bends.

"So this freeway goes all along the ocean?" Kiyone pointed towards the blue sea, shimmering in the sunset. She had an empty bag of In-N-Out Burger at her feet.

"All the way to San Francisco," Ranma said out loud. He pulled on a paddle that was behind the steering wheel.

"You sure you can buy something like this? What are you going to do about all this money?" Kiyone lifted her arms outside the cockpit, dragging her hands in the open wind.

Ranma lifted his hand up to catch the wind in his new convertible. A brand new Ferrari 360 Modena Spyder. It screamed along the cliff-side roads with its wailing V8 and striking Ferrari Rossa paint.

Kiyone squealed. Ranma howled as he upshifted with a paddle flick on the Ferrari's trademark sequential transmission.

He grabbed Kiyone's hand and lifted it up in the air with her. They both laughed like excited children.

Ranma mashed the throttle, beaming from ear-to-ear. "Better us than the government. Don't worry, I can think of plenty things I can do with it."

[THE END]

Disclaimer: This is fan fiction, I don't plan to make a profit out of someone else's work, just don't sue me. All respective trademarks, copyrights, whatever-rights, theirs and not mine.

From the Author:

I started this fic back in early 2001, which is why the dates in this fic still refer back to that era. It has been 8 years in the making. 8, wonderful, long, and memorable years which have brought me hundreds of pages of writing, countless hours of sitting at the word processors, countless hours of talking to fans/writers/friends on IRC, email, Delphi [RIP], and Anifics [RIP], dozens (perhaps close to a hundred even) of pages that were written and subsequently erased because it didn't go the way I wanted... wow. I could go on and on.

I want to thank you readers who have come this far and are reading my notes here right now. I want to especially, from the bottom of my heart, thank you folks who have followed me from years back, the ones who know and have waited for me to update in-between long and infrequent updates. This story is now finished. I can't believe it's finished. I hope it was as much fun and enjoyable for you to read as it was for me to write. Fanfiction once started off as a hobby that piqued my interest as a fan boy and inner-nerd. It has over the years blossomed into a passion of mine that has always itched away at me no matter how busy my life was and how little time I found for it. It became something that I wanted to constantly improve on, something that I actually even took the time to take creative writing workshops for to improve my writing craft.

I want to thank you guys for enjoying a character that I, in all honestly, started off as a one-dimensional badass that I created just for the sake of Michael Bay-esque awesomeness and as a forced shoehorn to make a Kiyone pairing. What I didn't expect, was the motivation and the interest to create (or at least try my personal best) a believable character based off the canon and flesh him out with prose and honest development.

There are lots of people I want to thank, like Thermopyle and KPJAM back in the day for helping me preread. James Axelrad and PCHeintz for helping me out with the newer chapters. The remnants of old Delphi. Anifics folks while it was still running. Ariolander for his incredibly generous help in giving me a working website, and a badass one at that. Thank all of you who actually sent me emails. Everyone at fanfiction dot net (fucking FF net url filters) for your reviews and feedback. I took them all to heart and considered all of your words.

Author's Notes:

So, how'd you like how this saga ended? Maybe I'm jumpin' the gun a little bit, but I do believe my fic is probably one of the longest running fics to ever be actually completed in the Ranma-verse. It took 8 years for me to get to this point. I'd gladly put in another 8 years perhaps to do it all over again.

In the end, I concluded this story on the theme of redemption. As much as I know a GOOD number of you will howl at me for the happy-ish ending, well... I got an alternate epilogue in the works. I was originally planning to release it at the same time as this, but I didn't know that it would take me this long to shit out a 9 page shortie. I figured 8 months is a long wait for you guys. Let's end it. I'll give you the alternate ending later.

And to some who were wondering about Akari's bittersweet fate, well. She

ain't gonna be so bittersweet with $20 mil in the bank now, is she?

Well, this journey has definitely been fun. And I must say, I am VERY sad to see it end. I'd like to consider perhaps making a very modern sequel to this, this time set in a post- 9/11 world without the constraint of the year in the storyline. But for now, I have other projects I need to finish. The Miho/Ranma project is scrapped, as much as I hate to fucking do it. I looked at it many times since I started it and now 8 years later I must conclude that it is shit. The Daily Report is woefully underworked, and I have yet one Officer Saotome alternate story that was put completely on hold that was supposed to be a Rally Vincent/Ranma matchup in a Gunsmith Cats x-over. There's a dozen different story ideas I have up in my noggin that I'd like to jot down and perhaps pursue.

Check out my new website at .com . Lots of cool stuff there, in addition to my fanfics!.

PLEASE, PLEASE, PLEASE SEND ME FEEDBACK!!! My e-mail is . That's SgtRanma AT Gmail dot com for those of you who can't see the link. For the fanfiction net people, you'll have to click the links on my profile.

Finished August 4, 2009


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